Early Life
Lionel Andres Messi, was born on 25 June, 1987, in Rosaria, Santa Fe Province, to parents Jorge Horacio Messi, a factory steel worker, and Celia Maria Cuccittini, a part-time cleaner. His parental family originates from the Italian city of Ancona, from where his ancestry, Angelo Messi, emigrated to Argentina in 1883. He has two older brothers, Rodrigo and Matias, and a sister, Maria Sol.
Messi started playing football for Grandoli, a local club coached by his father. In 1995, Messi switched to Newell’s Old Boys who were based in his home city Rosario. He became part of a local youth powerhouse that lost only one match in the next four years and became locally known as «The Machine of ’87», from the year of their birth.
At the age of 11, Messi was diagnosed with a growth hormone deficiency. Local team River Plate showed interest in his progress, but were not willing to pay for treatment for his condition, which cost $900 a month. Carles Rexach, the sporting director of FC Barcelona, was made aware of his talent as Messi had relatives in Lleida in western Catalonia, and Messi and his father were able to arrange a trial with the team. Rexach, with no paper at hand, offered Messi a contract written on a paper napkin. Barcelona offered to pay his medical bills on the condition that he moved to Spain. Messi and his father duly moved to Barcelona, where Messi enrolled in the club’s youth academy.
Achievements
By the age of 21, Messi had received Ballon d’Or and FIFA World Player of the Year nominations. The following year, in 2009, was his first time winning both awards. He followed this up by winning the inaugural FIFA Ballon d’Or in 2010, and again in 2011 and 2012. He also won the 2010-11 UEFA Best Player in Europe award.
At the age of 24, Messi became Barcelona’s all-time top scorer in all official club competitions. At 25, he became the youngest player to score 200 goals in La Liga. In September 2014, Messi scored his 400th senior career goal for the club and country at just age 27.
Commonly ranked as the best player in the world and rated by some as the greatest of all time, Messi is the first football player in history to win four FIFA/Ballon d’Or, all of which he won consecutively, and the first to win three European Golden Shoe awards. With his professional club, FC Barcelona, he has won six La Ligas, two Copas del Rey, six Supercopas de Espana, three UEFA Champions Leagues, two UEFA Super Cups and two Club World Cups.
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