Lionel Messi is considered one of the greatest footballers of all time. He was born in Argentina and joined Barcelona's youth academy at age 13 after being diagnosed with a hormone deficiency. He went on to become Barcelona's all-time leading scorer and won numerous championships and awards, including 5 Ballon d'Or trophies. Off the field, Messi established a charity foundation to support children's healthcare and education.

1. LIONEL MESSI

2. Lionel Messi is an Argentine former professional footballer
counted amongst the best players in the world in football history.
The only player in history to win five FIFA Ballons d'Or, he was
also the first player to win three European Golden Shoes. During
his playing career he shattered many world records and currently
holds the records for most goals scored in La Liga, a La Liga
season (50), a calendar year (91), a single season (73), and a
Champions League match (5), among several others. Born into a
football-loving family in central Argentina, he developed a passion
for the sport at an early age and spent his childhood playing
football with his brothers
About Lionel
Messi

3. He joined the youth team of Newell’s Old
Boys as a young boy and began playing for
FC Barcelona’s under-14 team when he was
13. Having made his competitive debut as a
17 year old, Messi quickly established
himself as an integral player for the
Barcelona club. His first big success came in
the 2008–09 season, during which he helped
Barcelona achieve the first treble in Spanish
football. Over the ensuing years he
proceeded to establish himself as
Barcelona's all-time top scorer in official
competitions and is also Argentina's all-time
leading goal scorer with 55 goals in 112
matches. He retired in 2016 following
Argentina's loss to Chile in the Copa América
Centenario final. But, soon a campaign began
to urge him to change his mind and Messi
later on reversed his decision.

4.  Lionel Messi was born to Jorge Messi and
Celia Cuccittini in Rosario, Santa Fe
Province. He has three siblings, two elder
brothers Rodrigo and Marias, and a
sister, Maria Sol. His father was a factory
steel worker and his mother was
employed as a part-time cleaner.
 At the age of five, Messi started playing
for the Grandoli, a local club coached by
his father. By the time he turned eight, he
was playing for Newell’s Old Boys. The
group was immensely talented, which is
visible from the fact that they lost just a
single match in the next four years. It was
their sheer interest and talent for the
game that made the group popularly
known as ‘The Machine of '87’
Childhood & Early Years

5.  Unfortunately, Messi was diagnosed with a growth
hormone deficiency when he was eleven. Despite
being immensely talented, he was not offered help by
the local clubs, who were not willing to pay for his
treatment.
 It was at this juncture that Carles Rexach, the sporting
director of FC Barcelona, came to his aid. He promised
to offer help to Messi by paying for his medical bills
only if the latter moved to Spain. Messi was enrolled at
the Barcelona’s youth academy.

6.  Messi’s career kick started in the year 2000
when he played for the junior system ranks.
Within a short span, he became the only
player to play for five different teams.
 His excellence at the game was visible from
the fact that Messi quickly moved through the
junior system ranks to make a league debut
on October 16, 2004 against RCD Española.
 His first goal came the following year on May
1, 2005 against Albacete. He created history
by being the youngest to ever score in a La
Liga game for Barcelona.
Career

7.  He received Spanish citizenship in September 2005,
which finally made it possible for Messi to make a
debut in the Championship League.
 Messi’s first outing at the Champions League was
against Italian club Udinese. Though he entered the
field as a substitute, he played amazing soccer with
Ronaldinho, the two sharing good chemistry over
passing and receiving the ball.
 Out of his 17 league appearances, Messi managed to
strike six goals. However, a muscle tear in his right
thigh led to his premature exit from the league, which
Barcelona eventually won as champions of Spain and
Europe.

8.  February 27, 2007 saw Messi play his 100th match for
Barcelona against Valencia CF. in the Champions
League, Messi scored 6 goals and provided 1 assist
before his premature exit due to muscle tear. It was
the fourth time in three seasons that Messi suffered
this type of injury. Overall in the season, Messi had
managed to score 16 goals and assisted 13 times in all
competitions.
 2009 was a successful year for Messi as he not only
won his first Copa del Rey, but helped his team win La
Liga and finally the Champions League. With three
victories by their side in a single year, Barcelona
became the first ever Spanish club to win the treble.
Messi scored a hat-trick quite a couple of times. He
ended the season with an overall 38 goals and 18
assists record.

9.  Before the year end, Barcelona had recorded another win at the 2009 Club
World Cup beating Estudiantes, thus totalling their title won in the year to six.
2010 was a year of hat-trick for Messi as he scored against CD Tenerife, Valencia CF,
Real Zaragoza, thus becoming the first Barcelona player to score back-to-back hat-
tricks in La Liga. In a match against Arsenal, Messi went on to score four goals. The
year ended with Messi scoring 47 goals and 11 assists in all competitions.

10.  In the 2010 Copa del Rey final, Barcelona
faced their arch rivals Real Madrid.
Though the defending champions lost
their game to Real Madrid, Messi was
however the joint top-scorer of the
tournament along with Cristiano
Ronaldo, with 7 goals.
 As for the Champion’s League, Barcelona
beat Real Madrid 2-0 in the Semi finals,
with Messi scoring both the goals. In the
finals too Messi scored the winning goal
to give Barcelona their third title in six
years and fourth overall. Messi finished
the 2010–11 season with 53 goals and 24
assists in all competitions combined.

11.  2011-12 season was a mirror image of the earlier
seasons for Messi as he broke records after records to
emerge as the top class player for Barcelona and the
world at large. He became the second highest
goalscorer surpassing Laszlo Kubala on 194 goals in
all official competitions. Additionally, he became
second in Barcelona's La Liga goalscorers list with 132
goals. He became the leading goalscorer for Barcelona
in all official competitions, surpassing the legendary
Cesar Rodriguez.
 While hat-tricks and quadruples had become common
for Messi, history was created when he scored five
goals in a match against Bayer Leverkusen, which
Barcelona won by 7-1. With this, he became the first
player to score five goals in an UEFA Champions
League match.

12.  In 2012, Messi’s goal count rested at 91
for the calendar year which was the
highest ever, surpassing Gerd Muller’s 85
goal haul. The supremely outstanding
performance of Messi led to Barcelona
renewing its contract with this ace
footballer until the year 2018.
 In the March of 2013, Messi scored for
the 19th consecutive La Liga game, thus
becoming the first footballer in history to
score in consecutive matches against
every team in the league.
 Following this, Messi appeared in match
against Paris Saint-Germain and later
against Atletico Madrid. However, he left
both of them mid-way due to suffering
from hamstring problem. As a result of
his injury, it is anticipated that Messi
could miss all the matches for the rest of
the season.

13.  His persistent injuries posed a threat to his career but he
bounced back in 2014, and had a good start to the 2014–15
season. By the end of the year, he had successfully broken
three longstanding records. He scored a hat-trick against
Sevilla in November which made him the all-time top scorer
in La Liga.
 He had an amazing start in the 2015 season. He gave a
scintillating performance along with team mates Luis
Suárez, and Neymar to score a total of 122 goals in all
competitions that season, a record in Spanish football. Messi
himself scored 58 of the 122 goals.
 Continuing his streak of success in 2016, Messi scored two
goals and assisted the other two in a 4–1 derby win over
Espanyol at the Camp Nou in the first leg of the Round of 16
of the 2015–16 Copa del Rey in January 2016. In February
the same year, he reached his 300th league goal in a 1–3
away win against Sporting Gijon.

14.  He scored his 500th senior career goal
for club and country on 17 April 2016 in
Barcelona's 2–1 home loss to Valencia. In
the 2015-16 season, he scored a total of
41 goals and provided 23 assists.
 He announced his retirement from
international football following
Argentina’s loss to Chile in the final of
Copa América Centenario on 26 June
2016.
 Following his retirement, a campaign
began to urge Messi to change his
decision. On 12 August 2016, it was
announced that Messi has reversed his
decision to retire and will be part of
Argentina's 2018 World Cup campaign.

15. Philanthropic Works
 Messi established the Leo Messi Foundation, a charity
supporting access to education and health care for
vulnerable children in 2007. This was in response to Messi’s
own medical ailments that he faced as a child. The
foundation works towards providing children diagnosed
with illnesses treatment in Spain funds covering the
transport, hospital and recuperation costs. Most of the funds
collected by the organization is through Messi’s own effort
with a little aid by Herbalife.
 Messi was the goodwill ambassador for UNICEF in 2010. He
worked towards supporting children’s rights
 In 2013, Messi donated a sum of €600,000 for the
restoration of a children's hospital by the name Victor J
Vilela Children's Hospital, in his hometown of Rosario,
Argentina. The donated amount was basically used in
restoring the oncology unit of the hospital and paying for
doctors to travel to Barcelona for training.

16.  Messi’s excellence at the field has been
lauded by the world over through the
numerous awards, honors and
achievements that he has been
bestowed with. Messi has won the
prestigious Ballon d'Or five times. He
has won it in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012
and 2015.
 Messi has on a number of occasions
won awards in the young player of the
year category. Some of them are World
Soccer Young Player of the Year, FIFPro
World Young Player of the Year and
Copa America Young Player of the
Tournament.
Awards& Achievements

17.  Messi has in his kitty 20 Player of the Year awards including
FIFA World Player of the Year (1), World Soccer Player of
the Year (3), Goal.com Player of the Year (2), UEFA Best
Player in Europe Award (1), UEFA Club Footballer of the
Year (1), FIFA U-20 World Cup Player of the Tournament
(1), La Liga Player of the Year (3), La Liga Foreign Player of
the Year (3) and La Liga Ibero-American Player of the Year
(5).
 For his knack of netting the ball to the goal, Messi has been
awarded as the top goalscorer on numerous occasions. Some
of them include IFFHS World's best Top Division Goal
Scorer, IFFHS World's Top Goal Scorer, UEFA Champions
League Top Goalscorer, FIFA U-20 World Cup Top
Goalscorer and Copa del Rey Top Goalscorer.
 Messi was honoured with the European Golden Shoe thrice
in 2010, 2011 and 2012. He won the FIFA Club World Cup
Golden Ball twice in 2009 and 2011. He was tagged as the
European Golden Boy in the year 2005.
 He was part of the Argentine football national team that won
the gold medal in the 2008 Summer Olympics.

18.  Messi has had quite a couple of romantic associations before
he got steady with his wife Antonella Roccuzzo. He was first
linked with Macarena Lemos, a female from his hometown
Rosario, whom Messi was introduced to by the former’s
father while he was recovering from his injury before the
2006 World Cup. He is even said to have shared a love bond
with Argentine glamour model Luciana Salazar.
 Messi was first seen with his wife Roccuzzo at a carnival in
Sitges after the Barcelona-Espanyol derby. A fellow native of
Rosario, Roccuzzo gave birth to their first child, Thiago on
November 2, 2012 and second child Mateo, on September
11, 2015.
 After several years of being in a relationship with Roccuzzo,
he married her on 30 June 2017. Their wedding was held at
a luxury hotel named Hotel City Center in Rosario.
Personal Life & Legacy

19. Trivia
 His first ever contract was not on any official stamp paper or
a bond paper. Instead, Carles Rexach, the sporting director of
FC Barcelona, offered him to play for the club in a contract
written on paper napkin! Rexach was so impressed that he
wanted to make a contract then and there.
 He was offered to play for Spain’s U-20 team at the
international level but he ruled out the offer due to his
Argentinian heritage and later took up a place at the
Argentina’s U-20 team.
Ever since his league debut for Barcelona in 2004, he has, through
his excellence at the game and complete know-how of the
technique, created numerous records. Currently, he is Barcelona’s
top scorer in La Liga, UEFA Champions League, European
competitions and international competitions

20.  He has also the most number of hat-tricks scored by any
Barcelona player.
 He holds the Guinness World Records of most number of
goals in a calendar year: 91 goals. Additionally, he is the only
world player to score in 19 consecutive league matches, his
goal count for the same being 30.
 He has a style that is similar to Maradona. On two occasions,
in the 2006-07 seasons, he replicated Maradona’s goal style
with perfection. Over the years, his actions have shown the
same character as that of Maradona, who himself declared
this talented footballer as his successor.

21. Top 10 Facts About Lionel Messi
 Although Lionel Messi has Spanish citizenship, he is of
Italian origin. His paternal family is from the Italian city of
Ancona in the Marche region.
 He shares the same birthplace, Rosario, with the Argentine
revolutionary, Che Guevara.
 Despite his fame, he still maintains close connections with
the people of Rosario, his hometown. He is also the
international ambassador of Rosario.
 Messi has his own version of the Hand of God goal. On 4
October 2006 in a match against Recreativo de Huelva, he
scored a goal with his hand.
 ‘SportsPro’ has cited him as one of the world's most
marketable athletes every year since 2010.

22.  One of the world's highest-paid footballers, he was the first
player to exceed the €40 million benchmark.
 He has his mother’s face tattooed on his left shoulder.
 He is the only player with four FIFA Ballon d'Or awards and
three European Golden Shoe awards. Additionally, he won
the Golden Ball award twice and the European Golden Boy
award once.
 Messi holds the record for the most hat-tricks scored (four
in total) in Champions League.
 He is known for his excessive love for food and his favorite
dish is escalope Milanese.