LIONEL ANDRES MESSI

Lionel Andrés "Leo" Messi Cuccittini ; born 24 June 1987), is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a forward for Spanish club FC Barcelona and captains the Argentina national team.

By the age of 21, Messi had received Ballon d'Or and FIFA World Player of the Year nominations. The following year, in 2009, he won his first Ballon d'Orand FIFA World Player of the Year awards. He followed this up by winning the inaugural FIFA Ballon d'Or in 2010, and then again in 2011 and 2012. He also won the 2010–11 UEFA Best Player in Europe Award. At the age of 24, Messi became Barcelona's all-time top scorer in all official club competitions. At age 25, Messi became the youngest player to score 200 goals in La Liga. In September 2014, Messi scored his 400th senior career goal for club and country aged just 27.

Early life

Messi was born on 24 June 1987^[2] in Rosario, Santa Fe Province, to parents Jorge Horácio Messi, a factory steel worker, and Celia María Cuccittini, a part-time cleaner. His paternal family originates from the Italian city of Ancona, from where his ancestor, Angelo Messi, emigrated to Argentina in 1883.^[15][16] He has two older brothers, Rodrigo and Matías, and a sister, María Sol. At the age of five, Messi started playing football for Grandoli, a local club coached by his father Jorge. In 1995, Messi switched to Newell's Old Boys who were based in his home city Rosario. He became part of a local youth powerhouse that lost only one match in the next four years and became locally known as "The Machine of '87", from the year of their birth.^[1

At the age of 11, Messi was diagnosed with a growth hormone deficiency.^[20] Local team River Plate showed interest in Messi's progress, but were not willing to pay for treatment for his condition, which cost $900 a month.^[14] Carles Rexach, the sporting director of FC Barcelona, was made aware of his talent as Messi had relatives in Lleida in western Catalonia, and Messi and his father were able to arrange a trial with the team.^[14] Rexach, with no other paper at hand, offered Messi a contract written on a paper napkin.^[21][22] Barcelona offered to pay Messi's medical bills on the condition that he moved to Spain. Messi and his father duly moved to Barcelona, where Messi enrolled in the club's  youth academy
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