LEO MESSI

Name : Akilan Aravinthan

Class : 1 Genesis
Subject: English
Lionel Andrés Messi Cuccittini (born 24 June 1987) is an Argentine
professional footballer who plays as a winger for Spanish club Barcelona and the Argentina
national team. Regarded as the greatest player of all time, Messi has a record-tying
five Ballon ‘dor awards, four of which he won consecutively, and a record-tying
four European Golden Shoes. He has spent his entire professional career with Barcelona,
where he has won 30 trophies, including eight La Liga titles, four UEFA Champions
League titles, and five Copas del Rey. Both a prolific goalscorer and a creative playmaker,
Messi holds the records for most official goals scored in La Liga (374), a La Liga
season (50), a club football season in Europe (73), a calendar year (91), El Clásico (25), as
well as those for most assists made in La Liga (149) and the Copa América (11). He has
scored over 600 senior career goals for club and country.
Born and raised in central Argentina, Messi was diagnosed with a growth hormone
deficiency as a child. At age 13, he relocated to Spain to join Barcelona, who agreed to pay
for his medical treatment. After a fast progression through Barcelona's youth academy,
Messi made his competitive debut aged 17 in October 2004. Despite being injury-prone
during his early career, he established himself as an integral player for the club within the
next three years, finishing 2007 as a finalist for both the Ballon d'Or and FIFA World Player
of the Year award, a feat he repeated the following year. His first uninterrupted campaign
came in the 2008–09 season, during which he helped Barcelona achieve the first treble in
Spanish football. At 22 years old, Messi won the Ballon d'Or and FIFA World Player of the
Year award by record voting margins.
Three successful seasons followed, with Messi winning three consecutive FIFA Ballon d'Ors,
including an unprecedented fourth. His personal best campaign statistically to date was the
2011–12 season, in which he set the La Liga and European records for most goals scored in
a single season, while establishing himself as Barcelona's all-time top scorer in official
competitions in March 2012. The following two seasons, Messi finished twice second for the
Ballon d'Or behind Cristiano Ronaldo, his perceived career rival. Messi regained his best
form during the 2014–15 campaign, breaking the all-time goalscoring records in both La Liga
and the Champions League in November 2014, and led Barcelona to a historic second
treble.
An Argentine international, Messi is his country's all-time leading goalscorer. At youth level,
he won the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship, finishing the tournament with both
the Golden Ball and Golden Shoe, and an Olympic gold medal at the 2008 Summer
Olympics. His style of play as a diminutive, left-footed dribbler drew comparisons with
compatriot Diego Maradona, who declared the teenager his successor. After making his
senior debut in August 2005, Messi became the youngest Argentine to play and score in
a FIFA World Cup during the 2006 edition, and reached the final of the 2007 Copa América,
where he was named young player of the tournament. As the squad's captain from August
2011, he led Argentina to three consecutive finals: the 2014 World Cup, for which he won
the Golden Ball, and the 2015 and 2016 Copas América. After announcing his international
retirement in 2016, he reversed his decision and led his country to qualification for the 2018
World Cup.