Argentine Footballer
- Considered one of the best players of all time.
- Sporting debut : October 16, 2004 (FC Barcelona)
- Position : Forward
- Parents : Jorge Horacio Messi and Celia Maria Cuccittini
- Couple : Antonela Roccuzzo
- Name : Lionel Messi, Lionel Andrés Messi Cuccitini
- Height : 1.7 m
Leo Messi was born on June 24, 1987, in Rosario, Santa Fe, Argentina.
His birth weight was 3 kilos, and he was 47 centimeters tall. He is of Italian descent; his paternal great-grandfather arrived in Argentina in 1883.
Family
Raised in a humble family, he is the son of Jorge Horacio Messi, a factory worker, and Celia MarÃa Cuccittini, a part-time cleaner. He has two brothers and a sister.
As a child, he played street football with his brothers, MatÃas and Rodrigo, and also with his cousin Tomi. He was nicknamed “La Pulga” (the Flea) because of his short stature.
Footballer
At the age of five, he started playing for Grandoli , a small team in his neighborhood that was coached by his father.
In 1995, he went on to train in the lower categories of Newell's Old Boys , a club with which he won the Friendship Cup of Peru in 1997.
At the age of eight, he was diagnosed with a growth hormone deficiency , which prevented him from having normal physical development. The treatment was very expensive, and his parents could not afford it.
Barcelona Football Club
Leo Messi was discovered by FC Barcelona . He left Club Atlético Newell's Old Boys in Rosario to move to Europe with his family, where the Catalan club paid for his hormonal illness (900 USD per month). For several years, he received two injections of growth hormone daily, helping him grow 23 centimeters. He eventually reached 1.70 meters in height and wears a size 40 shoe.
Messi made his debut for FC Barcelona's first team in December 2003, in a friendly match against FC Porto coached by José Mourinho , although his debut in an official match came the following year, in the 2004/2005 season, in a league match against RCD Espanyol , becoming the youngest Barcelona player to play in a Primera División match ( 16 years old). The club won the 2004/05 La Liga title and the 2005/06 UEFA Champions League the following year . In the 2006/07 season , Leo Messi became a regular starter, scoring a hat-trick in El Clásico against arch-rivals Real Madrid , finishing the season with 14 goals26 games. In the 2008/09 season, he established himself as the world's best player, and Barcelona won the treble. Messi scored a total of 38 goals. In 2009/10, he scored 47 goals in the season, 34 of which were in league competition. He won the Golden Boot, equalling Ronaldo 's record of goals from the 1996/97 season.
Goodbye to Barca
On August 5, 2021, it was revealed that Leo Messi would not continue at FC Barcelona after negotiations for his contract renewal had stalled. In a statement, the Catalan club fired the Argentine, the best player in its history, for not being able to register him in LaLiga. The statement says that: "Despite having reached an agreement between FC Barcelona and Leo Messi and with the clear intention of both parties to sign a new contract today, it will not be possible to formalize it due to economic and structural obstacles (Spanish LaLiga regulations)."
The renewal of Leo Messi with FC Barcelona was on track, just waiting for a signature. The agreement was complete, and only a meeting between Jorge Messi (Messi's father) and President Joan Laporta was needed to finalize it and start the renewal proceedings. The meeting took place on Thursday the 5th in Barcelona, and in it, the difficulty of registering Leo Messi by Barça was discussed, which caused a halt in the negotiations.
Paris Saint-Germain
PSG (Paris Saint-Germain Football Club) announced that Messi's presentation press conference as a new player of the team would be on August 11, 2021, at 11:00 a.m. at the Parc des Princes auditorium.
He is tied to the club with a contract for the next two seasons, with another optional one. His salary will be between 35 and 40 million euros net per year, including the employment contract and the image rights contract.
Argentine National Team
In the Argentine national team, Leo Messi wore the captain 's armband in several matches. In 2006, he became the youngest player of the national team to attend a World Cup , with which he won the runner-up position in the 2007 Copa América . In 2008, at the Beijing Olympic Games , Messi won a gold medal .
On 13 July 2014, he and his national team faced Germany in the final of the FIFA World Cup in Brazil, losing to a goal scored by Mario Götze in the 114th minute. Messi was chosen by FIFA to receive the World Cup Golden Ball as "Best Player of the Tournament."
On 16 June 2018, in Argentina's first match at the World Cup, he missed a penalty in a 1-1 draw against Iceland. They lost 0-3 to Croatia, and he scored a goal in the last match against Nigeria, which Argentina won 2-1 and in which he was named Man of the Match. The national team finished second in the group standings and moved on to the round of 16, where they were eliminated by France, first in Group C, on 30 June.
On 10 July 2021, Argentina won the Copa América by beating Brazil 1-0 in Rio de Janeiro, Messi, achieving his first title with the senior national team. He was also voted for the tournament's best player and top scorer, with four goals.
World Champion
On December 18, 2022, Lionel Messi, with the Argentina national team, won the Qatar 2022 final against Kylian Mbappé 's France , scoring two goals against the French national team and conquering two records on a glorious day for the Argentine captain. The number 10 became the player with the most games and most minutes in a World Cup in the history of all World Cups, surpassing the German Lothar Matthäus.
Argentina was crowned world champion, winning its third championship 36 years after the second, in one of the best finals to date. The Albiceleste dominated and went 2-0 up at half-time with goals from Messi and Angel Di Maria . The match seemed decided, but in the final stretch Mbappé appeared to score a double in two minutes and force extra time. Messi put Argentina ahead again in the second half of extra time, and Mbappé equalized again from the penalty spot with three minutes left. In the penalty shootout, Argentina did not fail and won the World Cup.
The Argentine captain received the Golden Ball for the best player of the World Cup in Qatar after being crowned champion this Sunday with the victory on penalties against France (4-2) at the Lusail Stadium. In his last match for the World Cup, Messi (35 years old) received this distinction for the second time in his career.
The Argentine, who scored seven goals in Qatar 2022, became the second top scorer in the competition, behind Kylian Mbappé (8), who received the Golden Boot.
Inter Miami
Lionel Messi has decided to sign for Inter Miami, confirming his arrival in American football on June 7, 2023. This decision came after rejecting an offer of $600 million per season from Saudi Arabia and ruling out the possibility of returning to Barcelona, which never officially materialized.
About to turn 36, the Argentine footballer opted for a middle path after ending his contract with PSG, deciding to prioritize the family option offered by Inter Miami instead of the money from Saudi Arabia or the attachment to the colors of Barça. The difficult economic situation of the Catalan club prevented reaching an agreement that met the demands of the League, the same reason that caused his departure in 2021.
America's Cup
On July 14, 2024, Argentina was crowned champion of the Americas. Lionel Scaloni's men defeated Colombia 1-0 with a goal from Lautaro MartÃnez in the 112th minute, thus securing their sixteenth Copa América title and extending a cycle of success that includes a historic treble (Copa América-World Cup-Copa América).
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