Lionel Messi: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know
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June 24th was the birthday of one of the legendary players in the world history of soccer. Born in Rosario, Argentina and with a killer left-foot, Lionel Messi has collected many goals and fans around the world. So today, I’m going to talk a bit about his soccer career and his life.
Earlier Career
Messi started training at age 13 in the Barcelona's Youth Team, called La Masia. The most impressive thing about it is that he could play with older players having the same or even better performance. At age 17, in October 2004, he made his competitive debut for Barcelona.
He established three years being an important piece of the team, and in the most important player of Barcelona. The impressive season has made him claim his first Ballon d`Or at age 22. He repeated this in the three following seasons, making him the first player to win 4 Ballon d`Ors in a row.
Today, Messi has collected many prizes, trophies and passionate fans. He was in Ronaldihno’s shadow in the beginning of his career but after Ronaldihno retired, he was for a long time, one of the most important soccer players and also the most valuable player in the world for 8 consecutive years. He still doesn't have a trophy for the Argentina national team, but it doesn't take from him the respect that he has for this sport.
Curiosities:
When he was a child, he was diagnosed with a hormone deficiency that restricted his growth. Because of this, he is called “La Pulga” by many sports fans.
He joined Barcelona at age 13 because he was showing great potential and also the club covered all medical expenses that his family had with Messi's growth deficiency. They then all moved to Spain.
Messi is the player who has scored most goals in one year. In 2012, he scored 91 times, passing Gerd Muller, who had scored 85 goals in 1972.
Messi has a record 6 Ballon d´Ors and 6 European Golden Shoes and has a club record 34 trophies including 10 La Liga´s, 4 UEFA Champions league titles and 6 Copa Del Rey´s.
How is Messi handling quarantine? With his huge mansion and own football pitch, gym and swimming pool, training and keeping fit doesn't include driving to a gym.
The Atomic Flea is another one of Messi's many nicknames. He is called the Atomic Flea because of his annoying presence, scoring goals and getting steals all over the pitch.
As you can see, Messi has many awards and championships and is one of the best soccer players ever to walk on a pitch.
On an assist from Ronladihno, another great soccer player, Messi's first official goal was very special: