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Lionel
Messi
Lionel Messi was born in
Santa Fe Province
on
24 June
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.[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 club’s
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 début
In October
2004, Messi made his official début 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[citation
needed] in a
La Liga game for FC
Barcelona.
Argentina U-20
Messi was
offered the chance to play for the
Spanish national side[citation
needed], 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 Barcelona team mate,
Ronaldinho).
International début
On
August 4,
José Pekerman
called him up to the senior
Argentine national team.
He made his début against
Hungary being put
in during 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-début. The first one was a bit
short"
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 2014.[2][10]
Messi obtained Spanish
citizenship on
September 25 and
was finally able to make his début 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.[11]
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.[12]
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.[13]
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.[14][4]
Messi's season ended prematurely on 7 March 2006, when he tore a muscle in his
right thigh during the second leg of the
second round Champions League
tie against Chelsea.[15]
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 jeopardised his presence at the
2006 FIFA World Cup.
Nevertheless, Messi was selected in the Argentina squad for the tournament 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.[16][17]
Messi witnessed
Argentina's opening
match win against
Ivory Coast from
the bench because the manager Pekerman wanted to shield him from the pressure.[18]
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.[19]
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.[20]
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 appeared to score a goal, but was
ruled offside. Argentina proceeded to win the game 2-1 in extra time.
[21] Messi spent
the entire quarter-finals match against
Germany, which
Argentina lost in a penalty shootout, on the bench.[22]
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 daft move.[23]
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.[24]
He sustained the injury in a game against Real Zaragoza on November 12, after
tackles from
Alberto Zapater and
Albert Celades.[25]
On
5 January
2007, Spanish
newspaper
El Mundo Deportivo
reported that
Internazionale
president
Massimo Moratti was
planning a £71 million bid for Messi;[26]
however, Moratti denied any immediate plans to sign Messi in an interview posted
on Internazionale's official website.[27]
He made his return against Racing Santander on the 11th of February, where he
came on as a second-half substitute.[1]
On
10 March
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. Messi is the youngest player
ever to have scored in
El Clásico, and
against Recreativo he scored again. This was his 7th goal. He scored again
against Deportivo, from a wonderful pass from
Ronaldinho. This
was his 8th goal in the 2006-07 season. A wonderful solo goal against
Getafe CF in a Copa
del Rey game on 18 April further reflected Messi's footballing similarity with
Diego Maradona, and
has further forged the youngster as one of the hottest prospects in the game[citation
needed]. On June 9 Messi scored a goal with his hand against
RCD Espanyol very
similar to
Diego Maradona,
once again furthering the comparisons with Maradona and Messi. Messi scored 2
goals when they beat
Atletico Madrid
whit 6-0, and 2 goals against
Espanyol. On the
closing day of La Liga, Messi scored two goals against Gimnastic de Tarragona.
Despite his efforts to lead his club to victory against Gimnastic, Barcelona
lost La Liga crown to Real Madrid. Few days later Spanish news agency -
EFE awarded him EFE
Trophy 2007 for the best Ibero-Amaerican football player in
La Liga ahead of
Daniel Alves from
Sevilla and club
mate
Ronaldinho. Messi
gained the title as the youngest player ever.
El Golazo
On
April 18, 2007, Messi scored two goals during a
Copa del Rey
semi-final 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.[28]
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 labelled 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.[
The Hand of God: Edition Two
At
the start of 9 June 2007, Barcelona and Real Madrid were tied for first place in
La Liga with two games left to play. Messi scored both goals in a match with
cross-town rivals Espanyol. Messi's first goal appeared to be a legally headed
ball and was allowed by the referee; however, television replays showed that
Messi had steered the ball into the net with his hand. World media immediately
drew comparisons with Maradona's legendary "Hand
of God" goal at the
1986 FIFA World Cup.[30]
Had Barcelona won and Madrid lost, Messi's goal certainly would have provoked
outrage from Madrid supporters. However, in the space of 20 seconds
Ruud van Nistelrooy
scored for Madrid and
Raúl Tamudo scored
for Espanyol, causing both games to end in 2-2 draws, thereby preserving the tie
for first in La Liga. When asked about the goal, Messi refused to say directly
whether he had handled the ball, saying only, "My first goal does not matter
now."[31]
Argentina National Team
Lionel Messi is
gaining much success with the national team. Basile has placed Messi into a
central-attacking position, right behind two forwards. Since the introduction of
this new tactic, Messi's playmaking abilities have been exploding. In his first
game, in a center-attacking midfield position, Messi delivered a precise cross
for Carlos Tevez to score. In the following game against Algeria, Messi hit the
post, scored from the spot (forcing the penality himself), and scored a
spectacular goal to win the game.
Personal Honours:
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