Lionel Messi

"Messi" redirects here. For Cameroonian football midfielder, see Georges Parfait Mbida Messi.

Not to be confused with Massi (disambiguation), Messe (disambiguation), Messih, or Messy (disambiguation).

Lionel Messi

Messi playing for Barcelona

Personal information

Full name Lionel Andrés Messi[1]

Date of birth 24 June 1987 (age 25)[1]

Place of birth Rosario, Argentina[1]

Height 1.69 m (5 ft 7 in)[1]

Playing position Forward

Club information

Current club Barcelona

Number 10

Youth career

1995–2000 Newell's Old Boys

2000–2003 Barcelona

Senior career*

Years Team Apps† (Gls)†

2003–2004 Barcelona C 8 (5)

2004–2005 Barcelona B 22 (6)

2004– Barcelona 216 (173)

National team‡

2004̣–2005 Argentina U20 18 (14)

2008 Argentina U23 5 (2)

2005– Argentina 71 (27)

Honours[show]

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 19:30, 26 August 2012 (UTC).

† Appearances (Goals).

‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 23:30, 16 August 2012 (UTC)

Lionel Andrés Messi (Spanish pronunciation: [ljoˈnel anˈdɾes ˈmesi], born 24 June 1987) is an Argentine footballer who plays for La Liga club FC Barcelona and is the current captain of the Argentina national team, playing mainly as a forward. He is currently Barcelona's all-time top scorer in all official club competitions, excluding friendlies.[2]

By the age of 21, Messi had received Ballon d'Or and FIFA World Player of the Year nominations. The following year in 2009 he won both the Ballon d'Or[3] and FIFA World Player of the Year, and won the inaugural FIFA Ballon d'Or in 2010 and 2011.[4] He also won the 2010–11 UEFA Best Player in Europe Award. Messi is the fourth football player to win three Ballons d'Or, after Johan Cruyff, Michel Platini and Marco van Basten and the second player to win three consecutive Ballons d'Or, after Michel Platini. His playing style and small stature have drawn comparisons to Diego Maradona, who himself declared Messi as his "successor".[5][6] [7][8][9]

Messi has won five La Ligas, two Copas del Rey, five Supercopas de España, three Champions Leagues, two Super Cups and two Club World Cups. In 2012, Messi made UEFA Champions League history by becoming the first player to score five goals in one match, in a 7–1 win against Bayer Leverkusen.[10] With two goals in the next round against Milan, he matched José Altafini's record of 14 goals in a single Champions League season.[11] He also became the first player to top-score in four successive Champions League campaigns.[12][13] He set the world record for most goals scored in a season during the 2011–12 season, with 73 goals.[14] In the same season, he set the current goalscoring record in a single La Liga season, scoring 50 goals.[15]

Messi was the top scorer of the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship with six goals. In 2006, he became the youngest Argentine to play in the FIFA World Cup and he won a runners-up medal at the Copa América tournament the following year, in which he was elected young player of the tournament.[16] In 2008, he won his first international honour, an Olympic gold medal, with the Argentina Olympic football team. Sportspro has rated Lionel Messi as the 3rd most marketable athlete in the world.[17]

Contents [hide]

1 Early life

2 Club career

2.1 Barcelona

2.1.1 2005–06 season

2.1.2 2006–07 season

2.1.3 2007–08 season

2.1.4 2008–09 season

2.1.5 2009–10 season

2.1.6 2010–11 season

2.1.7 2011–12 season

2.1.8 2012–13 season

3 International career

3.1 2006 World Cup

3.2 2007 Copa América

3.3 2008 Summer Olympics

3.4 2010 World Cup

3.5 2011 Copa América

4 Style of play

5 Outside football

5.1 Personal life

5.2 Charity

5.3 Wealth

5.4 Media

6 Career statistics

6.1 Club

6.2 International

6.3 International goals

6.3.1 Under–20

6.3.2 Under–23

6.3.3 Senior team

6.4 Career totals

7 Honours

7.1 Barcelona

7.2 Argentina

7.3 Individual

7.4 Records

8 References

9 External links

Early life

Messi was born in Rosario, Santa Fe Province, to parents Jorge Horácio Messi, a factory steel worker, and Celia María Cuccittini, a part-time cleaner.[18][19][20][21] His paternal family originates from the Italian city of Ancona, from which his ancestor, Angelo Messi, emigrated to Argentina in 1883.[22][23] He has two older brothers, Rodrigo and Matías, and a sister, María Sol.[24] At the age of five, Messi started playing football for Grandoli, a local club coached by his father Jorge.[25] In 1995, Messi switched to Newell's Old Boys who were based in his home city Rosario.[25]

At the age of 11, Messi was diagnosed with a growth hormone deficiency.[26] Local powerhouse River Plate showed interest in Messi's progress, but did not have enough money to pay for treatment for his condition, which cost $900 a month.[21] Carles Rexach, the sporting director of FC Barcelona, had been made aware of his talent as Messi had relatives in Lleida and Messi and his father were able to arrange a trial with the team.[21] Rexach, with no other paper at hand, offered Messi a contract written on a paper napkin.[27][28] Barcelona offered to pay for Messi's medical bills if he was willing to move to Spain. Messi and his father moved to Barcelona where Messi enrolled in the club's youth academy.[25][28]

Club career

Barcelona

Messi played in Barcelona's junior Infantil B and Cadete B & A teams from 2000 to 2003 (scoring 37 goals in 30 matches in Cadete A). Season 2003–04 saw him on a record[29] five different teams: He started one match in Juvenil B (one goal) and got promoted to Juvenil A (14 matches, 21 goals). Later he debuted for FC Barcelona C team (Tercera División) on 29 November 2003 and for FC Barcelona B (Segunda División B) on 6 March 2004. He played for both teams during the season (eight matches, five goals and five games, zero goals, respectively).[30][31][32] Even before these two debuts, Messi made his official debut for the first-team on 16 November 2003 aged 16 years and 145 days, in a friendly match against Porto.[33][34]

Less than a year after his start, Frank Rijkaard gave him his league debut against RCD Espanyol on 16 October 2004 (at 17 years and 114 days), becoming

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