MY IDOL

Lionel Andres Messi

Lionel Andrés Messi also known as Leo Messi,[5] (born 24 June 1987) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a
forward for Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain and is the captain of the Argentina national team. Often regarded as the best
player in the world and often considered the greatest player of all time,[6][7][8][9] Messi has won seven Ballon d’Or awards, six
European Golden Shoes, and in 2020 was named the Ballon d’Or. D’Or Dream Team. He spent his entire professional career
with Barcelona, where he won 34 trophies, including ten La Liga titles, seven Copa del Rey titles and four UEFA Champions
Leagues. A prolific goalscorer and creative playmaker, Messi holds the records for all-time top goalscorer in La Liga (474 goals),
most goals in La Liga and Europe in a single season (50 goals), most hat-tricks in La Liga (36) and UEFA Champions League (8), as
well as most assists scored in La Liga (192), most assisted goals in La Liga and Europe during a single season (21)[10] and most
assisted goals in the Copa América (17). He has scored more than 750 goals during his senior career for club and country, and
the most goals ever by a player playing for only one club.

Born and raised in Argentina, Messi moved to Spain to join Barcelona at the age of 13, where he made his competitive debut at
the age of 17 in October 2004. In the 2008–2009 season, he helped Barcelona to its first ever treble. At that time, aged 22,
Messi won his first Ballon d’Or. [11] During the 2011–2012 season, he set La Liga and European records for the most goals
scored in a single season, while establishing himself as Barcelona’s all-time leading goalscorer. In the 2014–2015 season, Messi
became the all-time leading scorer in La Liga and led Barcelona to a second treble, after which he was awarded a fifth Ballon
d’Or in 2015. Messi captained Barcelona in 2018, and in 2019 he won the Ballon d’Or Sixth Or.

As a player of the Argentine national team, Messi is the player with the most appearances and goals of all time for the
Argentina national team. At youth level, he won the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship, finished the tournament winning
the Golden Ball and Golden Boot awards, and earned an Olympic gold medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics. After making his
debut in the senior national team in August 2005, Messi became the youngest Argentine to win played and scored at the FIFA
World Cup in 2006, and reached the final of the 2007 Copa América, where he was named the best young player of the
tournament. A team captain since August 2011, he led Argentina to three successive finals, namely the 2014 FIFA World Cup
Final, where he won the Golden Ball, as well as the 2015 and 2016 Copa América Finals. After announcing his retirement from
the national team in 2016, he called off this decision led his country to the 2018 FIFA World Cup, finished third at the 2019 Copa
América, and won the 2021 Copa América.

According to France Football, he was the world’s highest-paid footballer for the five years between 2009 and 2014, and the
world’s highest-paid athlete according to Forbes in 2019. Messi is among Time magazine’s 100 most influential people in the
world in 2011 and 2012. In February 2020, he was awarded the Laureus World Sports Award for Athlete of the Year, making him
the first soccer player and first team sport athlete to win the award.