Luis Lionel Andrés Messi

Luis Lionel Andrés Messi is an Argentine footballer who plays for La Liga club FC Barcelona

and is the captain of the Argentina national team,playing mainly as a foward.  He is

Barcelona's all-time top scorer in all official club competitions, excluding friendlies.

Messi was born in Rosario,Santa Fe Province ,to parents Jorge Horacio Messi, a factory

steel worker and Celia Maria Cuccittini ,a part-time cleaner.His paternal He has two older

brothers Rodrigo and Matias and a sister,Maria 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 once match in the next in the next four years and became locally

known as the „The Machine of ’87“ ,from the year of their birth. At the age of 11,Messi was

diagnosed with a growth hormone deficiency.Local powerhouse River Plate showed interest

in Messi's progress, but did not have enough money to pay for treatment for his condition,

which cost $900 a month.Carles Rexach,the sporting director of FC Barcelona,had been made

aware of his talent as Messi had relatives in Lleida and Messi and his father were able to

arrange a trial with the 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 the Ballon d'Or and FIFA World Player of

the Year, and the inaugural FIFA Ballon d'Or in 2010 and 2011. He also won the 2010–11

UEFA Best Player in Europe Award. Messi played in Barcelona's junior Infantil B and Cadete

B & A teams from 2000 to 2003 (scoring 37 goals in 30 matches in Cadete A). Season 2003–

04 saw him on a recordfive different teams: He started one match in Juvenil B (one goal) and

got promoted to Juvenil A (14 matches, 21 goals). Later he debuted for FC Barcelona C team

(Tercera División) on 29 November 2003 and for FC Barcelona B (Segunda División B) on 6

March 2004. He played for both teams during the season (ten matches, five goals and five

games, zero goals, respectivelyEven before these two debuts, Messi made his official debut

for the first-team on 16 November 2003 aged 16 years and 145 days, in a friendly match

against Porto.

The 25-year-old was presented with the trophy for being Europe's top goalscorer during the

2011-12 season as he bagged 50 La Liga goals for Barcelona.The forward said his record-

breaking goals tally was due to the support of his team-mates."Before anything else I want to

thank everyone who is here with me," Messi said."A lot of people have come. Obviously this

is a group award. This more than any other, even if it is a prize for scoring goals."Without my

team-mates I would not have scored all the goals I managed."Messi, who also won the award

during the 2009-10 campaign, added: "I really appreciate what the club has done for me in

giving me the opportunity to fulfil my dream."My dream at the moment is to finish my career

here before retiring in Argentina."