Biography Lionel Messi
Lionel Andrés Messi (born 24 June 1987 in Rosario) is an Argentine international footballer who currently plays for FC Barcelona in the Primera División, and for the Argentine national team. He has drawn comparisons to Diego Maradona, and indeed Maradona himself named Messi his “successor”.[3]
Career
Beginnings
Lionel Messi was born in Rosario city on 24 June 1987. At the age of five, he started playing football for Grandoli, a club coached by his father. In 1995, Messi switched to Newell's Old Boys.[4] At the age of 11, he was diagnosed with a growth hormone deficiency.[5] River Plate showed interest in Messi's progress, but did not have enough money to pay for the treatment of the illness that cost over £500 a month, as Argentina's economy was collapsing.[citation needed] Carles Rexach, the sporting director of FC Barcelona, was made aware of Messi's talent, and Barcelona signed him after watching him play,[6] offering to pay for the medical bills if he was willing to move to start a new life in Spain.[4] His family moved with the young player to Europe and he starred in the club’s youth teams.[6]
FC Barcelona
Messi made his unofficial debut for the first team against FC Porto on 16 November 2003. Less than a year later he made his official debut against Espanyol on 16 October 2004, becoming the third-youngest player ever to play for FC Barcelona and youngest club player who played in La Liga (a record broken by team mate Bojan Krkić in September 2007).[7] When he scored his first senior goal for the club against Albacete Balompié on 1 May 2005, Messi was 17 years, 10 months and 7 days old, becoming the youngest to ever score in a La Liga game for FC Barcelona until 2007 when Bojan Krkić broke this record, a goal assisted by Messi.[8]
Argentina Under-20
In June 2004, he got his chance, playing in an under-20 friendly match against Paraguay. In 2005 he was part of the team that won the Under-20 World Cup in Holland. He also won the prize for best player of the tournament.
International career
On 4 August 2005, José Pekerman called Messi up to the senior Argentine national team. He made his debut on 17 August 2005 against Hungary, but it was a forgettable occasion. He was substituted on during the 63rd minute, but was sent off after just 40 seconds, because the referee Markus Merk found he had elbowed defender Vilmos Vanczák, who was tugging Messi's shirt, and left the pitch in tears. The decision was contentious. Maradona even claimed the decision was pre-meditated.[9][10] Messi then had his first international start on 3 September in Argentina's 0-1 World Cup qualifier away loss against Paraguay.[11] Ahead of the match he had said "This is a re-début. The first one was a bit short"[12]
2005-06 season
Messi vs Rangers 11/2007.
Messi vs Rangers 11/2007.
On September 16, for the second time in three months, Barcelona announced an update to Messi's contract - this time improved to pay him as a first team member and extended till June 2014.[4][13] Messi obtained Spanish citizenship on September 25 and was finally able to make his début in the season's Spanish First Division. He had previously been unable to play because FC Barcelona had filled their quota of non-EU players. Messi's first home outing in the UEFA Champions League came on September 27 against Italian club Udinese.[14] He impressed with some great passing and a seemingly telepathic relationship with Ronaldinho that earned him a standing ovation from the 70,000-odd Nou Camp faithful.[15] In December of that year, the Italian newspaper Tuttosport awarded him the Golden Boy 2005 title for the best under-21 player in Europe, ahead of Wayne Rooney, Lukas Podolski, and Cristiano Ronaldo.[16]
Messi netted 6 goals from 17 league appearances and scored 1 Champions League goal from the 6 games he featured in. His reputation for big match temperament was helped by performances in Barcelona's important away leg victories against Real Madrid and Chelsea in the league and Champions League respectively, each considered his best of the respective campaign.[17][6] Messi's season ended prematurely on 7 March 2006, when he tore a muscle in his right thigh during the second leg of the second round Champions League tie against Chelsea.[18] Barcelona ended the season as champions of Spain and Europe.
The injury that kept him from playing for two months at the end of the 2005/06 season jeopardised his presence in the World Cup. Nevertheless, Messi was selected in the Argentina squad for the tournament on May 15, 2006. He also played in the farewell match against the Argentinian U-20 team for fifteen minutes and a friendly against Angola from the 64th minute.[19][20] He witnessed Argentina's opening match victory against Ivory Coast from the bench.[21] In the next match against Serbia , Messi became the youngest player to represent Argentina at a World Cup when he came on as a substitute for Maxi Rodríguez in the 74th minute. He assisted Hernán Crespo's goal within minutes of entering the game and also scored the final goal in the 6-0 victory, that made him the youngest scorer in the tournament.[22] Messi started in Argentina's following 0-0 tie against the Netherlands.[23] In the following game against Mexico, Messi came on as a substitute in the 84th minute, with the score tied 1-1. He appeared to score a goal, but was ruled offside in a dubious decision,[24][25] Argentina needing an extra time winner to proceed. Messi sat on the bench during the quarter-finals match against Germany, which Argentina lost in a penalty shootout.[26]
2006-07 season
Messi shortly before scoring the goal against Getafe.
Messi shortly before scoring the goal against Getafe.
Consistently strong performances and the occasional goal meant Messi was not starting any more games on the bench. Failure to effectively replace the injured Eto'o and poor defensive displays prevented Barcelona from taking advantage of Messi's showings against Chelsea and Real Madrid.[27] This would later prove critical to their title challenges. On November 12, in the game against Real Zaragoza, Messi suffered a broken metatarsal from tackles, ruling him out for 3 months.[28][29] Barça carried out his recuperation in native Argentina. During this period there were rumours of interest in the player from Inter Milan.[30][31] Messi returned to action against Racing Santander on the 11th of February, coming on as a second-half substitute[4]. Rijkaard carefully managed his complete return, gradually increasing playing minutes with each game. One month since his return, on the 10th of March, he played his first full league match since the injury, Real Madrid being the opposition. Once again, El Clásico saw Messi in top form, scoring a hat-trick to earn 10-man Barcelona a 3-3 draw, equalising thrice and with the final goal coming in injury time. In doing so he became the first player since Iván Zamorano (for Real Madrid in the 1994-95 season) and the first Barcelona player since Romario (1993-94 season) to hit a hat-trick in the El Clásico. Messi is also the youngest player ever to have scored in this fixture. The game also marked the beginning of Messi's best spell of form with Barça. He also began finding the net more often, 11 of his 14 league goals for the season coming from the last 13 games. Despite his spirited efforts, Barcelona felt marginally short in its defence of the La Liga title, Real Madrid winning on a better head-to-head record.
Messi also proved the 'new Maradona' tag was not all hype, by near-replicating Maradona's most famous goal (the goal scored after a sensational run taking the ball around half the England squad in the 1986 World Cup) in the space of the single season.[32] On April 18, 2007, he scored two goals during a Copa del Rey semi-final against Getafe CF, one of which was very similar to Maradona's famous goal against England at the 1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico, known as the Goal of the Century.[33] The world's sports press exploded with Maradona comparisons, and the Spanish press labelled Messi as "Messidona". He ran about the same distance (62 metres), beat the same number of players (six, including the goalkeeper), scored from a very similar position, and ran towards the corner flag just as Maradona did in Mexico 21 years before. In a press conference after the game, Messi's team-mate Deco said: "There's no other like Leo."[34] Later on, in a crucial league match with Espanyol, Messi scored a goal that drew even more comparisons to Maradona's Hand of God
Copa America 2007
Messi played his first game in Copa America on 29 June, 2007, when Argentina defeated United States 4-1 in the first game. In this game, Messi showed his capabilities as a playmaker. He set up a goal for fellow striker Hernán Crespo and had numerous shots on target. Tevez came on as a substitute for Messi in the 79th minute and scored minutes later.
His second game was against Colombia, in which he caused a penalty that Crespo converted to tie the game at 1-1. He also played part in Argentina's second goal as he was fouled outside the box, which allowed Juan Roman Riquelme to score from a freekick, and increase Argentina's lead to 3-1. The final score of the game was 4-2 in Argentina's favor and guaranteed them a spot in the tournament's quarterfinals.
In the third game, against Paraguay the coach rested Messi having already qualified for the quarter-finals. He came off the bench in place of Esteban Cambiasso in the 64th minute, with 0-0. In the 79th minute he created a goal for Javier Mascherano. In the quarterfinals, as Argentina faced Peru, Riquelme made a pass to Messi and the latter scored the second goal for Argentina, which advanced to the semifinals after a 4-0 win.
In the semi finals against Mexico, Messi scored when he spotted the Mexican goalkeeper Oswaldo Sanchez off of his line and chipped the ball into the goal. The goal ultimately helped his team to a 3-0 victory and earned them a place in the final against Brazil, which Argentina subsequently lost 3-0.
2007-08 season
Messi takes Barça to 2:0 against Sevilla FC at Camp Nou on 22 September 2007.
Messi takes Barça to 2:0 against Sevilla FC at Camp Nou on 22 September 2007.
Messi scored five goals in a week leading Barcelona to the top four in La Liga. He dedicated the two goals he scored against FC Sevilla on September 22 to Ronaldinho, who was injured and under fire from media outlets at the time. A few days earlier he had scored as Barcelona defeated Lyon 3-0 at home in a Champions League match and then on September 26, Messi scored another goal in a 4-1 victory over Real Zaragoza.
He has been nominated for a FIFPro World XI Player Award under the category of Forward. A recent poll conducted in the online edition of the Spanish newspaper Marca has him as the current best player of the world with 77 percent of the votes.[35] Also, other columnists from Barcelona-based newspapers El Mundo Deportivo and Sport began asking for the Ballon d'Or to be given to Leo Messi this year. This observation was also made by world soccer legends Franz Beckenbauer and Johan Cruyff.[36] Various soccer personalities such as Ronaldinho, Samuel Eto'o, Frank Rijkaard, Víctor Fernández, Bernd Schuster, Guti, Raul, Gianluca Zambrotta, Francesco Totti and Diego Maradona have all, at one time or another, declared that they consider Messi to be one of the current best footballer of the world.[37][38]
On February 27 Messi played in his 100th official match for FC Barcelona.
Barcelona's medical staff decided to sideline Messi for six weeks following an injury on March 4 where he experienced a muscle tear in his left thigh during a Champions League match against Celtic. Messi left the field at the Nou Camp in the 35th minute with tears in his eyes. It was the fourth time in three seasons that the player suffered this type of injury.[39] He missed Champions League quarterfinals against Schalke but returned on April 12, just before the clash with Manchester United. Barcelona was eventually knocked out of the competition by Manchester United. Messi started both games and was considered man of the match in both games but unfortunately failed to provide a goal for Barcelona.
