Lionel Messi is a famous Argentinean footballer who has been a part of the Spanish Barcelona for many years. At the moment, he is considered one of the best football players of our time, and in the history of this sport. The top scorer of the national team of Argentina and the club "Barcelona".
Athlete Biography
Lionel Messi was born in 1987. He was born in a small Argentinean town called Rosario. His father worked in a factory, and his mother worked as a cleaner. Lionel Messi has a large family: he has a sister, Maria Sol and two older brothers, whose names are Matias and Rodrigo.
The ancestors of the hero of our article emigrated to Argentina in 1883 from Italy. Some of them came from Catalonia, so the fact that he is playing for Barcelona now looks symbolic.
Lionel Messi became interested in football when he was only five years old. He began playing on the Grandoli amateur team, which his father coached in his spare time at the factory.
Early career
Sports biography of Lionel Messi has developed very successfully. In 1995, he was already in a professional club. It was the famous Newell's Old Boys. At the age of 10, in the youth team, he won the Peruvian Friendship Cup.
But his career did not always succeed, a year later the doctors discovered he had a deficiency of growth hormone, so Messi's athletic career was in doubt. Of course, growth for a football player is not considered a determining factor, as in basketball, but still there are not so many players who are too low.
At the same time, Messi's medical problems gave in to treatment, however, they cost serious money - about $ 900 per month. The cult Argentinean “River Plate” showed interest in the player, but did not find the required amount.
But when Messi was 13 years old, they found out about him in Barcelona. In 2000, at the invitation of the Spanish club, he came to Catalonia. The game of young talent so impressed sports director Carles Reshak that he persuaded the board to pay for the move of the Lionel Messi family to Spain, as well as the expensive treatment of a promising player.
Debut in big football
In professional adult sports, football player Lionel Messi played exclusively for Barcelona. He made his debut in the 2004/2005 season.
He first entered the field in an official match on October 16, in a meeting against another Catalan club, Hispaniol, in the Spanish Championship. The derby ended 1-0 in favor of Barcelona.
Messi scored the first goal as part of his team on May 1, 2005. He did this at the gates of the little-known club "Albacete", which had long since left the Spanish Primera. At that time he was 17 years old 10 months and 7 days. So he became the youngest footballer to ever score for Barcelona in official matches.
First title
Messi won his first title in the 2005/2006 season. Then the footballer became the champion of Spain.
I remember this year and several more of its achievements. So, on November 2, the Argentine first scored in the Champions League match. He became the author of one of the goals against the Greek “Panathinaikos”, that game ended 5-0 in favor of “Barcelona”.
In the same year, Messi won the Champions League, however, could not take part in the final match due to injury. According to the results of that season, the player spent 6 matches in the Champions League, in which he distinguished himself once, and 17 games in the Spanish Championship, in which he scored 6 goals.
Success at Barcelona
Since then, the player has not been unfaithful to the Catalan club, he spends his entire career in one team. In this article you will find out how old Lionel Messi is. Now he is exactly 30.
Up to this point, Messi spent 414 matches for Barcelona, in which he scored 378 goals. During his career, he won the Spanish Championship 8 times, won the country's Cup 6 times, won the Spanish Super Cup 7 times, won the Champions League 4 times, won the UEFA Super Cup 3 times, and won the club world championship three times. In total, he has 31 club trophies.
Many books are devoted to the biography of Lionel Messi. Faccio wrote, perhaps, the most famous of them. In a colorful edition, he talks in detail about one of the most successful football players of our time. About Messi, Leonardo Faccio wrote a very detailed study telling about all the main stages of his career.
National team appearances
Messi made his debut in Argentina in 2006. For the first time he received a call to the national team for a match against Hungary, but the first pancake turns out to be lumpy. After playing only 3 minutes, the hero of our article earns a red card and leaves the field. It was a friendly match.
In an official meeting, Messi first appears on the field in the qualifying game for the 2006 World Cup against Paraguay. In the 80th minute he comes on as a substitute. Soon scored his first goal for the national team in a friendly match against Croatia.
In 2006, the football player first goes to the World Cup. The tournament takes place in Germany. In the group stage, the Messi team defeats the Ivory Coast national team with a score of 2: 1, then defeats Serbia and Montenegro (6: 0). In this game, Messi scores his first goal at the world championships. He is different in the 88th minute, putting an end to this vibrant victory. The final match ends in a goalless draw with the Dutch. Argentines from the first place go to the playoffs.
In the 1/8 finals, they beat Mexico in extra time (2: 1), and in the 1/4 finals they get to the hosts of the mundial. Ayala opens an account at the beginning of the second half, but exactly 10 minutes before the end of regular time, Klose scores a return goal. The winner is determined in the penalty shoot-out. Bottom line: Ayala and Cambiasso miss the mark, the Germans go to the next round.
Curse messi
From that moment, according to many, the so-called curse of Messi began. The great Argentine football player cannot win a single title with the national team. With the national team, he managed to win only at the World Youth Championship in 2005 and at the Olympic Games in 2008.
But at the world championships and the Cup of South America, his team is constantly failing. In 2010, at the World Cup in South Africa, the Argentines confidently outplayed everyone in the qualifying group, but lost to the Germans in the quarter finals. This time, purely - 0: 4.
In 2014, Argentina reached the final, where she again met with the German team. The only goal in the 113th minute was scored by Mario Goetze.
Three attempts to win the America's Cup
Messi cannot win the America’s Cup, although he has already reached the final three times with the national team. This happened for the first time in 2007. In their group, the Argentines confidently outplayed the USA (4: 1), Colombia (4: 2) and Paraguay (1: 0).
In the quarter finals, the national team defeats Peru (4: 0), and Mexico confidently wins in the semifinals (3: 0). In the decisive match, the team of Messi is opposed by the Brazilians, who take the title. The game ends 3-0 in their favor.
The next time Argentina manages to get to the decisive match only in 2015. The tournament is held in Chile, in the final Argentines meet with the hosts. In the main and extra time, the fans never saw the goals, it came to a series of penalty shoot-outs.
The Argentines, Messi from the point just hit the target, but those who beat after him Higuain and Banega could not realize their attempts. As a result, the victory went to Chile with a score of 4: 1.
In 2017, Argentina again reached the final of the Cup of South America. At the group stage, she has no equal - the Chileans (2: 1), the national team of Panama (5: 0) and the team of Bolivia (3: 0) were defeated. In the quarter finals, Messi squad defeats Venezuela (4: 1), and in the semifinals the US team (4: 0). The team of Chile again gets to the finals together with the Argentines. Once again, it comes to penalty shoot-outs. This time Messi himself misses, and the Chileans win 4: 2.
After this failure, Messi even announced that he was completing his career in the national team of Argentina, but he still managed to persuade him to return. Therefore, in 2018, he will arrive in Russia as part of the South American squad to try again to win the most prestigious trophy in world football. The whole world will observe this.
It is already known that the Argentines will play in group D. Their rivals will be the teams of Iceland, Croatia and Nigeria. Matches will be held in Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod and St. Petersburg.
In total for the Argentine national team, Messi has currently played 123 matches, scoring 61 goals.