Lionel Messi The Great Footballer.
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| Photo: Chris Burton |
Lionel Messi
Lionel Andres Messi cuccittini was born on 24 June 1987.He is an Argentine Footballer Who plays as a Forward and captains both Spanish Club Barcelona and the Argentina National Team. Often Considered the best player in the world and widely regarded as one of the greatest Player of all time, Messi has won the record six European Golden Shoes.He was spent his entire Professional Career with Barcelona, where he was won a club-record 34 trophies, Including Ten La Liga titles, 4 UEFA Champions League titles and six Copas Del Rey. A prolific goal scorer and a creative play maker, Messi holds the records for most goals in La Liga (438), a La Liga and European league (50), most hat-tricks in La Liga (36) and the UEFA Champions league(8), and most assist in La Liga (181) and the Copa America (12). He has scored over 700 senior career goals for club and country.
International Career
As a dual Argentine-Spanish national, Messi was eligible to play for the national team of both countries.Selectors for Spain's under-17 squad began pursuing him in 2003 after Barcelona's director of Football, Carles Rexach, alerted the royal Spanish football federation to their young player. Messi declined the offer, having aspired to represent La Albiceleste since childhood. To further prevent Spain from talking him, the Argentine Football Association organized two under-20 friendlies in June 2004, against Paraguay and Uruguay, with the purpose finalizing his status as an Argentina player in FIFA. 5 days after his 17th birthday, on 29 June, he made his debut for his country against Paraguay, scoring once and providing two assists in their 8-0 victory. He was subsequently included in the squad for the South American youth championship, held in Colombia in February 2005. As he lacked the stamina of his teammates, the result of his former growth hormone deficiency, he was used as a substitute in 6 of the 9 games. After being named man of the match against Venezuela, he scored the winning 2-1 goal in the crucial last match against Brazil, thereby securing their third-place qualification of the FIFA World Youth Championship.
Aware of his physical limitations, Messi employed a personal trainer to increase his muscle mass, returning to the squad in an improved condition in time for the World Youth Championship, hosted by the Netherlands in June 2005. After he was left out of the starting line up in their first match against the United States, a 1-0 defeat, the squad's senior player asked manager Francisco Ferraro to let Messi start, as they considered him their best player. After helping the team defeat Egypt and Germany to progress past the group stage, Messi proved decisive in the knockout phase as he scored their equalizer against Colombia, provide a goal and an assist against title favorites Spain, and scored their opening goal against reigning champions Brazil. Ahead of the final, he was awarded the Golden Ball as the best player of the tournament.
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| Photo: Ed Alexander |
Honours and Achievement
Barcelona
* La Liga: 2004-05, 2005-06, 2008-09, 2009-10, 2010-11, 2012-13, 2014-15, 2015-16, 2017-18, 2018-19.
* Copa del Rey: 2008-09, 2011-12, 2014-15, 2015-16, 2016-17, 2017-18.
* SuperCopa de España: 2005, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2016, 2018.
* UEFA Champions League: 2005-06, 2008-09, 2010-11, 2014-15.
* FIFA Club World Cup: 2009, 2011, 2015.
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