Beginnings
Lionel Messi was born in Rosario city on June 24, 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. At the age of 11, he was diagnosed with a growth hormone deficiency. 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. Carles Rexach, the sporting director of FC Barcelona, was made aware of Messi's talent, and Barcelona signed him after watching him play, offering to pay for the medical bills if he was willing to move to start a new life in Spain. His family moved with the young player to Europe and he started in the club’s youth teams.. Messi is known for his speed with or without the ball, his astonishing dribbling, skills getting past defenders and his finishing.
More about Lionel Messi (From Wikipedia)
Beginnings
Lionel Messi was born in Rosario city on June 24, 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 read more...
FC Barcelona
Messi made his unofficial debut for the first team against FC Porto on November 16, 2003. Less than a year later he made his official debut against Espanyol on October 16, 2004, read more...
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 the Netherlands. He also read more...
International Career
On August 4, 2005, José Pekerman called Messi up to the senior Argentine national team. He made his debut on August 17, 2005 against Hungary, but it was a forgettable occasion. read more...
2005-06 Season
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 read more...
2006-07 Season
Consistently strong performances and the occasional goal meant Messi was not starting any more games on the bench. Failure to effectively replace the injured Samuel Eto'o and poor read more...
Copa America 2007
When Copa started Leo was the youngest player in the tournament. Messi played his first game in Copa America on 29 June, 2007, when Argentina defeated United States 4-1 in the first read more...
2007-08 Season
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 read more...
2008-09 Season
Messi started the season with Argentina in Olympic Games 2008 in Beijing. He scored the first goal in 1-2 victory against Ivory Coast and then scored the first goal and got the assist read more...
Lionel Andrés Messi (El Pulga) (The Flea), (born June 24, 1987 in Rosario) is an Argentine footballer who plays for FC Barcelona in the Spanish Primera División. He is also read more...