Lionel Messi was born in Santa Fe Province on
June 24, 1987 Lionel Messi was born in Santa Fe Province on
June 24, 1987 . This
was his 7th goal.
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. [2] At the age of 11, he was
diagnosed with a growth hormone deficiency .
[3] River Plate showed interest in Messi’s
progress, but did not have enough money to
pay for the treatment of the illness,
which
cost over £500 a month. As Argentina’s
economy
was collapsing, Carles Rexach, then
sporting director of FC Barcelona , was made
aware of Messi’s talent, and Barcelona signed
him after watching him play, [4] offering to
pay for the medical bills if he was willing to
move to start a new life in Spain. [2] His
family moved with the young player to Europe
and he starred in the clubs youth teams. [4]
He soon found himself starting for the
Barcelona B team, averaging more than a goal
per game, by scoring 37 goals in 30 matches. Barcelona debut
In October 2004 Messi made his official debut
for the first team against RCD Espanyol ,
becoming the third-youngest player to ever
play for FC Barcelona . When he scored his
first senior goal for the club against Albacete
Balompié on May 1 , 2005, Messi was 17 years,
10 months and 7 days old, becoming the
youngest to ever score in a La Liga game for
FC Barcelona. Argentina U-20
Messi was offered the chance to play for the
Spanish national side , but he declined,
preferring to wait for the opportunity to play
for the country of his birth. In June 2004 he
got his chance, playing in an under-20
friendly match against Paraguay . In June 2005 Messi played in the U-20 team
that won the Football World Youth
Championship in Netherlands, picking up the
Golden Boot as top scorer with 6 goals, and
the Golden Ball for the best player of the
tournament. Despite his youth, Lionel was
already being compared to Diego Maradona ,
one of the greatest football players of all
time. On June 27, FC Barcelona renewed his
contract until 2010, establishing a selling
clause of €150 million (which happens to be
30 million more than his teammate in
Barcelona, Ronaldinho ). [2] [5
International debut
On August 4 , José Pekerman called him up to
the senior Argentine national team . He made
his debut against Hungary being put in in the
63rd minute, but was sent off after just 40
seconds, because the referee Markus Merk
found he had elbowed the defender Vilmos
Vanczák who was tugging Messi’s shirt, and
left the pitch in tears. The decision was
heavily contested as Maradona even claimed
the decision was pre-meditated. [6] [7] Messi
then had his first real international debut on
September 3 in Argentina’s 0-1 World Cup
qualifier away loss against Paraguay playing
the last eight minutes of the match. [8] Ahead
of the match he had said "This is a re-debut. The first one was a bit short" [9]
2005-06 season
Messi obtained Spanish citizenship on
September 25 and was finally able to make his
debut in this season’s Spanish First Division. He had previously been unable to play because
FC Barcelona had filled their quota of non- EU
players. Messi’s first home outing in the
UEFA Champions League came on September 27
against Italian club Udinese . [10] He impressed
with some great passing and a seemingly
telepathic relationship with Ronaldinho that
earned him a standing ovation from the
70,000-odd Nou Camp faithful. [11] In
December of that year, the Italian newspaper
Tuttosport awarded him the Golden Boy 2005
title for the best under-21 player in Europe,
ahead of Wayne Rooney , Lukas Podolski , and
Cristiano Ronaldo . [12]
Messi netted 6 goals from 17 league
appearances and scored 1 Champions League
goal from the 6 games he featured in. His
reputation for big match temperament was
helped by performances in Barcelona’s
important away leg victories against Real
Madrid and Chelsea in the league and
Champions League respectively, each
considered his best of the respective
campaign. [13] [4] Messi’s season ended
prematurely on March 7, 2006, when he tore a
muscle in his right thigh during the second leg
of the second round Champions League tie
against Chelsea. [14] . Barcelona ended the
season as champions of Spain and Europe. World Cup 2006
The injury that kept him from playing for two
months at the end of the 2005/06 league,
jeopardized his presence in the 2006 FIFA
World Cup. Nonetheless, Messi was selected in
the Argentina squad for the 2006 FIFA World
Cup on May 15, 2006. He also played in the
farewell match against the Argentinian U-20
team for fifteen minutes and a friendly
against Angola from the 64th minute. [15] [16]
Messi witnessed Argentina ’s opening match
win against Ivory Coast from the bench
because the manager Pekerman wanted to
shield him from the pressure. [17] In the next
match against Serbia and Montenegro, he
came on as a substitute for Maxi Rodríguez in
the 74th minute. In doing so he became the
youngest player to represent Argentina at a
World Cup. He assisted Hernán Crespo ’s goal
within minutes of entering the game and also
scored the final goal in the 6-0 victory. This
goal made him the youngest scorer in the 2006
World Cup and the sixth youngest scorer in
World Cup history, Pelé being the youngest.
[18] Messi started in Argentina’s following
0-0 tie against the Netherlands as a forward. Fellow striker Carlos Tevez and he were not
allowed any space by the Dutch defence, which
prevented him from causing any damage and
he was substituted in the 69th minute. [19]
In the following game against Mexico, Messi
came on as a substitute for Javier Saviola in
the 84th minute, with the score tied 1-1. He
scored a goal, which was controversially ruled
offside. Argentina proceeded to win the game
2-1 in extra time. [20] Messi controversially
spent the entire quarter-finals match against
Germany, which Argentina lost in a penalty
shootout, on the bench. [21]
2006-07 Season
Messi maintained his reputation as a big
match player when he tricked Brazilian full
back Roberto Carlos making him fall over and
break a finger during one particularly deft
move. [22] His 89th minute equaliser away to
Werder Bremen was pivotal in Barcelona’s
qualification to the Champions League knock
out phase. Messi had another long lay off with
a broken metatarsal which kept him out for 3
months. [23] He sustained the injury in a
game against Real Zaragoza on November 12,
after tackles from Alberto Zapater and Albert
Celades . [24] On 5 January 2007 , Spanish
newspaper El Mundo Deportivo reported that
Internazionale president Massimo Moratti was
planning a £71 million bid for Messi; [25]
however, Moratti denied any immediate plans
to sign Messi in an interview posted on
Internazionale’s official website. [26] He made
his return against Racing Santander on the
11th of February, where he came on as a
second-half substitute. [1] On March 10, 2007
he scored a hat-trick against Real Madrid in
El Clásico , with his third goal coming in injury
time to earn 10-man Barcelona the draw 3-3
at home to Real Madrid. Messi was the first
player to score a hat-trick in El Clásico since
Iván Zamorano did it for Real Madrid in the
1994-95 season, and the first Barcelona
player to do it since Romario scored three
against Real Madrid in the 1993-94 season,
and against Recreativo he scored again. He scored again against
Deportivo, from a wonderful pass from
Ronaldinho. This was his 8th goal in the
2006-07 season. A wondeful solo goal against
Getafe CF in a La Liga game on April 18th
further reflected Messi’s footballing similarity
with Diego Maradona , and has further forged
the youngster as one of the hottest
prospects in the game. El Golazo
Messi shortly before scoring the goal. On April 18, 2007, Messi scored two goals
during a Copa del Rey semifinal against
Getafe CF , one of which was very similar to
Maradona’s famous goal against England at
the 1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico, known as
the Goal of the Century[27] . Messi’s goal is
already considered a major contender for the
best goal of the year. The world’s sports
press exploded with Maradona comparisons,
and the Spanish press labeled Messi
"Messidona". He ran about the same distance
(62 metres), beat the same number of players
(six, including the goalkeeper), scored from a
very similar position, and ran towards the
corner flag just as Maradona did in Mexico 21
years before
