Lionel Messi is an icon, a legend, and the greatest player of the world’s most popular sport. Ever since he emerged from the youth academy of Barcelona, Lionel Messi has been an unstoppable force on the football field. In this post, we will talk a little bit about him. Let’s get started.

Lionel Messi: All You Need To Know

Every football generation is famous for its heroes. At one time they were Pele, Maradona, Platini, Zidane. The current idol of football fans is Lionel Messi, who was recognized as the best football player in the whole world (and perhaps the best of all time as well). He was born into a poor family and had a congenital ailment, but this did not become an obstacle to success. Messi is today the most decorated footballer in the world (Bleacher Report said that with the 2022 World Cup win, Lionel Messi had “completed football”), but first of all, he is not worried about himself, but about the success of his team.

When was Lionel Messi born?

The birthplace of the famous football player is the city of Rosario in Argentina. It was there that on June 24, 1987, he was born into a large family of Jorge Horacio and Celia Maria. His father worked as a steelmaker in the metallurgical industry, his mother worked as a cleaner. In addition to Lionel, the couple had two sons, Matias and Rodrigo, and a daughter, Maria Sol. The father of the family worked as a coach for a youth football team as well, however, despite this, the family lived quite poorly.

Lionel spent a lot of time with his grandmother, who was involved in his upbringing. It was she who brought the five-year-old boy to the Grandoli football club. How the old woman managed to see real talent in the boy remained a mystery. However, she was able to convince everyone that the boy had a great future. Her prediction came true in full, and now, after each goal scored, Messi raises his hands to the sky, in gratitude to his grandmother Celia, who passed away when Messi was just 10 years old.

Does Lionel Messi have growth hormone deficiency?

At school, Lionel Messi was a decent student but he was obsessed with football and spent most of his time on the football field. Lionel Messi was accepted into Newell’s Old Boys team when he was just 10. Unfortunately, a serious ailment was discovered in Messi when he turned 11. He suffered from a growth hormone deficiency and his football career seemed in jeopardy.

If the disease began to progress, then Messi’s sports career would end, almost without starting.

Every month, Lionel Messi’s parents had to shell out $ 900 just for the treatment of their son, and this amount was unbearable for them. At this time, the River Plate club became interested in the boy, but they did not have the money to pay for his treatment.

How did Lionel Messi join Barcelona?

At the age of 13, Lionel caught the eye of one of the shareholders of the Barcelona team. He invited the guy to get checked out at their club. In September 2000, Messi, accompanied by his father, arrived in Catalonia, but his examination took place only on October 3. The director of the club, Carles Reshak, saw in him remarkable abilities for football. It was he who persuaded the board of directors of the club to pay for the relocation of the young talent and his treatment. From that moment on, Messi was enrolled in the youth team of the club. The treatment, for which the club spent 90,000 euros a year, proved to be effective. Lionel Messi is not tall by any means, but he grew up to be at least of average size. He is 170 cm tall and weighs 72 kg.

Lionel Messi: Barcelona Days

The young Lionel Messi began to show incredible success literally from the first match, in which he scored four goals. In the next three dozen matches for this team, Messi scored 37 goals. In 2003, he made his professional debut in a match against the Portuguese club Porto.

In 2005, he managed to hit the net against the Albacete team and became the youngest player in the club to score a goal in the Spanish championship.

The peak of Messi’s career happened in 2012 when he scored fifty goals in the most prestigious matches. In 2011-2012, he made 66 appearances and scored 86 goals. Thus, the record of the German striker Gerd Müller, who held for forty years, was broken.

Experts call 2010-2012 the best years of Messi’s sports career. At this time, he was assigned the title of the first football player in the world to be awarded the FIFA Golden Ball four times. In this matter, Messi’s main opponent was considered to be another outstanding football player – Cristiano Ronaldo. At that time, his income was 20 million euros, a documentary project was shot about him.

Lionel Messi: National Team Career

Together with the Argentine team, Messi traveled to China for the 2008 Olympics. Then they won the Olympic gold.

At the World Cup in 2010, the national team of Argentina reached the quarterfinals but lost to the German team with a crushing score of 0-4. A step separated Messi from the title of world champion.

As part of the Argentine national team, Lionel showed an excellent result. In 136 games, he managed to score 68 goals. In 2010, in a competition with the Greek team, he entered the field with the captain’s armband. He became the youngest of all captains ever to lead the Argentina national team.

In 2016, the Argentine national team reached the final of the Copa America but lost to the team of Chile with a score of 2-4 in a penalty shootout. Lionel failed to score a penalty in this match.

In November 2017, Barcelona extended Lionel Messi’s contract until 2021, paying him 700 million euros.

The famous football player began to talk about retiring from the sport, but in 2018 he came to Russia for the World Cup. Unfortunately, Argentina could only muster a 1-1 draw against Iceland, and lose 0-3 to Croatia. Further, Argentina had to meet with the Nigerian national team, and this match decided their future fate. Either they win and make it to the next round and return home in disgrace. All hope was on Messi, and he did not disappoint – he scored a goal in the 14th minute.

But the match on June 30 of the same year with France ended in the defeat of Argentina with a score of 4-3, and Messi’s team “flew out” of further struggle. Lionel Messi decided to retire from International football soon after that but his coach convinced him to come back. Lionel Messi had an international career renaissance. He won Copa America and eventually captured the elusive World Cup during the 2022 tournament in Qatar. He was adjudged the best player of the tournament in which they beat France in the final on penalties.

Lionel Messi: Best Quotes

I prefer to win titles with the team ahead of individual awards or scoring more goals than anyone else. I’m more worried about being a good person than being the best football player in the world. When all this is over, what are you left with? When I retire, I hope I am remembered for being a decent guy.

Money is not a motivating factor. Money doesn’t thrill me or make me play better because there are benefits to being wealthy. I’m just happy with a ball at my feet. My motivation comes from playing the game I love. If I wasn’t paid to be a professional footballer I would willingly play for nothing.

Whether it’s a friendly match, or for points, or a final, or any game – I play the same. I’m always trying to be my best, first for my team, for myself, for the fans, and to try and win.

I always thought I wanted to play professionally, and I always knew that to do that I’d have to make a lot of sacrifices. I made sacrifices by leaving Argentina, leaving my family to start a new life. I changed my friends, my people. Everything. But everything I did, I did for football, to achieve my dream.

The truth is that I don’t have a favourite goal. I remember important goals more than I do favourite goals, like goals in the Champions League where I had the opportunity to have scored in both finals I have played in. Finals in the World Cup or Copa del Rey are the ones that have stayed with me for longer or that I remember more.

I’ve never stopped being Argentine, and I’ve never wanted to. I feel very proud of being Argentine, even though I left there. I’ve been clear about this since I was very young, and I never wanted to change. Barcelona is my home because both the club and the people here have given me everything, but I won’t stop being Argentine.

I’ve always really just liked football, and I’ve always devoted a lot of time to it. When I was a kid, my friends would call me to go out with them, but I would stay home because I had practice the next day. I like going out, but you have to know when you can and when you can’t.

Lionel Messi: Girlfriends and Wife

The first girlfriend of the famous Argentine was his compatriot Macarena Lemos. He was only 19, and at that time he loved football more than anything, so this relationship quickly ended.

In 2006, model and Playboy star Louisiana Salazar appeared in the personal life of Lionel Messi. However, this romance also had a fairly short history.

Messi found real happiness with Antonella Roccuzzo, whom he knew from childhood. They lived almost next door, Lionel often met on the football field with the brothers of his future wife. In 2009, Messi told reporters that he was happy in his personal life with his girlfriend.

On November 2, 2012, Antonella gave birth to Lionel’s first child, son Thiago. Three years later, on September 11, 2015, another son, Mateo was born.

The official registration of the relationship between Roccuzzo and Messi took place on June 30, 2017. The wedding celebration was held in the hometown of the lovers – Rosario. It was attended by 250 guests, among whom one could meet many football stars and other celebrities. Therefore, the hosts of the celebration took increased security measures.

In October of the same year, the couple announced that replenishment was expected in their family soon. On March 10, 2018, Antonella gave birth to her third son, Ciro. Messi often posts photos with his family on his Instagram page.

Lionel Messi: Charitable Work

The legendary football player remembers very well how he fought for his health in childhood, and how much money was needed for his full recovery. Therefore, now, having become rich and famous, he is engaged in charity work. He has a fund that treats sick Argentine kids. Among them, some kids have the same growth hormone condition that Messi had in his life.

Was Lionel Messi close to being imprisoned?

In 2016, Messi and his father were accused of not fully paying taxes on their income. The son was fined 2 million euros, the father 1.5 million. But the father had to not only pay but also serve 21 months in prison. Messi quickly created an offshore company with which to hide income that aroused the unhealthy interest of the tax office. Thus, Lionel managed to remove all suspicions from himself. The fact that he did not miss a single charity match also played into the hands of the footballer.