Probably the best player in the world right now is Lionel Messi.
He is one of the world’s best and most exciting football players. He was constantly being compared to former Manchester United winger Cristiano Ronaldo, but he appeared to brush it off by helping his club easily overcome United in the 2009 UEFA Champions League finals in Rome.
How did he get to where he is now, on top of the world? atop a cloud?
Messi was selected for Argentina’s World Cup team and received high praise for his exploits during the 2005–06 campaign.
Messi, a striker or attacking midfielder, has exceptional ball control and speed and the potential to develop into one of the best players the game has ever seen.
Barcelona is benefiting from his increasing maturity on the biggest stage, and back home in Argentina, he has started to be referred to as “the new Maradona.” Although that is a heavy burden to bear, he has handled it well thus far.
However, if Barcelona had not taken Messi under its wing at a young age, his tale might have finished before it even began. Messi was raised in Rosario, Argentina, and as a youngster excelled at football. From the age of five, he played for Grandoli, a team that his father coached, before transferring to Newell’s Old Boys.
He appeared to have a bright future in football, but at the age of 11, a growth hormone deficit was discovered that necessitated costly therapy.
Even though his parents couldn’t afford it, they chose to relocate to Spain after seeing some hesitant indications that Barcelona recognized Messi’s skill. Messi gave Barca a tryout, and the team was so satisfied that it decided to cover his medical bills.
Following Messi’s ascent from the ranks of youth to the top, Barca is now seeing a tremendous return on its investment. By the time he was 17 years old, he was already a member of the first team.
Although he stood out in a Barcelona squad that included stars like Ronaldinho and Samuel Eto’o, he was forced to miss the successful finale of Barca’s UEFA Champions League run after having his season cut short by a thigh injury.
However, the second half of the 2006–07 season was when he truly came of age. He also missed three months of the next season due to a broken metatarsal. He scored 11 goals in the final 13 games of the season, becoming the youngest Barca player ever to score a hat trick against the club’s fiercest rival Real Madrid in “El Clasisco.”
In its unsuccessful championship defense in 2007, Barca has fallen further behind Real Madrid in the challenging 2007-08 campaign. Nevertheless, despite another extended injury absence, Messi has remained the star.
His performance was largely responsible for the Catalan club’s progress to the Champions League semifinals, which came after a long-expired attempt to win the domestic championship.
Messi and Barcelona were “so near yet so far” in 2007-2008. They lost to Manchester United in the UEFA Champions League semifinals by a single goal and were denied the La Liga championship by Real by one goal.
Pep Guardiola then arrived. Messi improved his performance. He pushed the limit. He contributed to his team winning the Treble—the Spanish Cup, La Liga, and UEFA Champions League—scoring 38 goals across all competitions. They earned revenge on Manchester United by defeating them in the UEFA Champions League finals after defeating their rival Real Madrid 6-1 in the El Classico at the Bernabeu. Messi scored in both occasions.
Despite having Spanish citizenship, Messi choose to represent Argentina. He overcome an injury to play in the 2006 World Cup and last year, he assisted his squad in making the Copa America final.
According to reports, Messi is dating Maracena Lemos, an ambitious model from Argentina who he met while recovering from an injury. She was reportedly only 14 when they first met.
After overcoming his childhood obstacles, Messi is unlikely to ever be phased by an injury, but he does appear to have experienced some serious ones. In a Champions League match against Chelsea in 2006, he tore his thigh, and the following year he broke his foot. After ripping a thigh muscle against Celtic in March, he was again out for six weeks. He sobbed as he left the field.
Moment to remember
When Messi scored a breathtaking goal in a Copa del Rey match against Getafe in April 2007, Diego Maradona comparisons appeared appropriate. Before putting the ball in the net from a tight angle, Messi ran more than half the length of the field and outraced six opponents. It was strikingly similar to Maradona’s famous goal against England in the 1986 World Cup quarterfinals, as opposed to the notorious one.
Early Life of a Soccer Prodigy
On June 24, 1987, Luis Lionel Andres “Leo” Messi was born in Rosario, Argentina. Messi was not scared by the bigger guys when he was a little boy and accompanied his two older siblings when they played soccer with their buddies. He was invited to join the Newell’s Old Boys youth program when he was 8 years old.
Messi was subsequently shown to be suffering from a hormone deficit that constrained his growth because he was noticeably smaller than the majority of children in his age group. Messi’s parents, Jorge and Ceclia, agreed to put their son on a schedule of nightly growth hormone injections, but it quickly became hard for them to afford the expensive medication.
So, when Messi was 13 years old and was given the opportunity to train at FC Barcelona’s La Masia youth program and have his medical expenses paid for by the team, Messi’s family packed up and traveled across the Atlantic to establish a new life in Spain. Despite frequently missing his native land, Messi advanced fast through the junior system.
Ultimately, Messi has been compared to another renowned Argentine player, Diego Maradona, due to his tiny size (5 feet, 7 inches), speed, and aggressive attacking approach.
