Football

Lionel Andrés Messi Cuccitini is an Argentinian footballer who currently plays for the Catalan club FC Barcelona and wears jersey number 10. He is often compared to the famous Argentinian footballer Diego Maradona for his style of play.

In the 2011/12 season, he scored a record 50 goals in the Spanish league and also scored a record 73 goals in all competitions. Scored the most goals in one UEFA Champions League main stage match, scoring 5 goals in the second leg of the 2011/12 LM Round of 16 against Bayer Leverkusen on 7 March 2012 (Barcelona won 7–1 and progressed). On October 21, 2014, Brazilian Luiz Adriano equaled him in this statistic.

On 9 December 2012, after reaching his 86th goal, he surpassed by a goal the previous world record set by German striker Gerd Müller in 1972 for the number of goals scored in a calendar year (achieved in a La Liga game against Betis Sevilla). He scored 74 goals in the Barcelona jersey, another 12 for the Argentine national team. The record has been contested by the Zambia Football Association and Brazilian football club CR Flamengo. The Football Association of Zambia claimed that Zambian player Godfrey Chitalu allegedly scored 107 goals in 1972. Flamengo pointed out that its player Zico scored a total of 89 goals in 1979. FIFA commented that the Zambian footballer's goals cannot be verified and so Messi's record remains valid. In total, Messi scored 91 goals in 2012, beating Gerd Müller's previous record by 6 goals.

At the same time, on December 9, 2012, Messi broke the record of Barcelona's all-time top scorer, César Rodríguez, who scored 190 goals between 1939–1955. Lionel Messi scored 191 goals in the match against Sevilla, while some statisticians say that he even scored 192 goals for FC Barcelona. On 22 November 2014, he scored a hat-trick in a league match against Sevilla FC, reaching his 253rd goal in the Primera División and becoming the all-time top scorer in the Spanish top flight (surpassing Telmo Zarra's 251 goals in 1955). In the same month, on November 25, he became the top scorer of the UEFA Champions League (not counting the qualifying part), surpassing Raúl's 71 goals. At the beginning of December 2014, he crossed the 400-goal mark in the FC Barcelona shirt in all matches (including pre-season).

Club career

Beginnings

He started playing football at the age of five, when he started playing with the Grandoli team, where his father coached. In 1995 he started working in CA Newell's Old Boys. At eleven, he was diagnosed with growth hormone deficiency. At the time, CA River Plate showed interest in him, but Messi's parents did not have the money to pay for their son's treatment at the time. Carles Rexach, the director of the FC Barcelona team at the time, offered Messi a contract including paying for all his treatment and moving to Spain.

FC Barcelona

In October 2004, Messi made his official debut for Barcelona's A team against RCD Espanyol, becoming the third youngest player to play for Barcelona. On May 1, 2005, he scored his first goal for Barcelona. He was then 17 years, 10 months and 7 days old and became the youngest scorer in a Barcelona shirt.

Season 2005/06

Since 2005, he has been compared to Diego Maradona, one of the best footballers of all time. On June 27, 2005, he signed a contract with Barcelona until 2010 with a clause that in the event of his departure, Barcelona must receive a severance payment of 150 million euros. In 2010, Barcelona let it be known that they would not release Messi unless some team gave them 6,000,000,000 CZK (240 million euros), which would mean Barcelona's budget for the next 5 years.

In September 2005, just three months after signing the new contract, FC Barcelona announced that they had signed a new contract with the player. This guaranteed him a higher salary and also work in Barcelona until 2014.

On September 25, 2005, he accepted Spanish citizenship and thus began to fulfill the quota for European Union players. In 2005, he also received the Golden Boy award, which is awarded by the Italian sports daily Tuttosport in cooperation with other European newspapers to the winner of a vote for the best player under 21 years of age in one of Europe's highest football leagues.

His temperament helped Barcelona to victory over Chelsea or Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League, but his club season ended prematurely on 7 March 2006 when he tore a hamstring in his right leg during the second leg against Chelsea.

Season 2006/07

On 5 January 2007, an Italian newspaper reported that the president of Inter Milan intended to buy Messi for £71 million. However, the transfer did not take place in the end.

Since the beginning of November, he was in labor with a broken metatarsal bone, he returned to the game in February. On 18 April, he emulated his more famous compatriot Diego Maradona, beating five opposition players, the goalkeeper and netting in a domestic cup match against Getafe CF. He also imitated Maradona at the end of the league year. In the game against Espanyol Barcelona, Messi obviously delivered the ball into the net with his hand, just like Maradona did in the 1986 World Cup against England.

He finished the season with 14 goals in 23 games.

Season 2007/08

The first half of the season was very successful for him. He was nominated for the FIFPro World XI Player Award in the striker category. In an online poll by Marca newspaper, 77% of the people voted him the best player in the world.On March 4, he suffered a thigh muscle injury in a Champions League match against Scottish Celtic. This type of injury has slowed him down several times. In the 2007/08 season, he made 40 appearances for the Catalan club, scoring 16 times and assisting on 13 goals.

Season 2012/13

He was in the first leg of the 2012/13 Champions League semi-final on 23 April 2013 in a 0–4 loss to Bayern Munich. He started the match, although he was not 100% medically fit. However, the opponent's tactics were able to completely eliminate his strengths on the field.

In the 33rd round of La Liga 2012/13 on April 27, 2013, he contributed one goal in a 2:2 draw with Bilbao. The season ended successfully, after being eliminated in the semi-finals of the Champions League by Bayern Munich (0:4 and 0:3), Messi won the Spanish league title with his teammates.

International career

Youth national teams

In June 2004, he was called up to the U20 national team for a friendly match against Paraguay.

A year later in June 2005, he played at the 2005 U20 World Cup held in the Netherlands. Argentina beat Nigeria 2-1 in the final. Messi became the top scorer, netting a total of six goals and was named the best player of the tournament.

He was a member of Argentina's Under-23 Olympic squad that won gold at the 2008 Olympics in China after a 1-0 win over Nigeria.

The A-Team

He was offered to play for the Spanish national team, but he refused and decided to play for the country of his birth. In August 2005, coach José Pekerman called him to the A-team of the Argentine national team. He made his debut on 17 August 2005 in a friendly match against Hungary in Budapest. He went on the field in the 63rd minute, but spent only 40 seconds on the field. Referee Markus Merk sent him off for a shove with a Hungarian defender. The referee's decision angered many Argentina players as well as Diego Maradona, who himself said the sending off was illegal. Argentina won 2-1 despite playing underdogs.

On February 29, 2012, Lionel Messi scored his first hat-trick for Argentina. He scored in the 19th, 88th and 92nd minutes in a friendly match against home team Switzerland in Bern to set up a 3-1 win for Argentina.

He scored his second hat-trick in a friendly on 9 June 2012 against arch-rivals Brazil at a neutral venue in East Rutherford, USA. Scores flowed from one side to the other in a thrilling match, with Lionel Messi scoring three of Argentina's four goals as his side beat Brazil 4-3.

World Cup 2006

An injury from March made it difficult for him to participate in the 2006 WC, but the coach nominated him. He also played in the tournament itself. He replaced Maxi Rodríguez in the second group game and played against Serbia and Montenegro. At that time, Argentina beat the opposition 6-0, and Messi also contributed with a goal and an assist, which made him the youngest scorer and assister at the World Cup in Germany, and the sixth youngest in the history of the championship. In the quarterfinals, Argentina lost to Germany in a penalty shootout.

World Cup 2010

At the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, he also represented the Argentinians on the bench with coach Diego Maradona, losing 0:4 to Germany in the quarter-finals.

World Cup 2014

He participated in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, where he led Argentina to advance in Group F. He scored in all three matches (against Bosnia, Iran and Nigeria) and was always named "man of the match". Argentina topped the group with nine points. He advanced with the team to the final against Germany. In the semi-final against the Netherlands, with a score of 0:0, it went to penalties, Messi converted his attempt. In the final against Germany, he had to accept defeat 0:1 after extra time. He was declared the best player of the championship (he won the Golden Ball - Adidas Golden Ball).

Copa America 2015

At the 2015 Copa América in Chile, Argentina drew 2–2 with Paraguay in the first leg, with Messi contributing the second goal. They beat Uruguay 1-0 in the second match and Jamaica 1-0 in the third match. In the quarter-finals, Argentina beat Colombia in a penalty shootout. In the semi-finals, they beat Paraguay 6:1. In the final against Chile, penalties are decided and Argentina lost. Messi once again missed out on a title with the Argentine national team at a major tournament.

Copa America 2016

After the South American Championship (Copa América 2016), where Argentina lost to Chile in the final on 26 June, he decided to end his international career after once again finishing just short of the top (winning the title). However, he took back his decision in August 2016 and informed about his desire to wear the national jersey again.

Off the pitch

Personal life

Messi was once linked to Macarena Lemos, a woman from his hometown Rosaria. He said that Macarena was introduced to him by her father when Messi returned to Rosario a few days before the 2006 World Cup to treat his injury. He has also been linked to Argentinian model Luciana Salazar in the past. In January 2009, Messi told Canal 33 TV: "I have a girlfriend who lives in Argentina. I'm relaxed and happy." He was seen with Antonella Roccuzzo at the carnival in Sitges after the derby between Barcelona and Espanyol. Roccuzzo comes from Rosario as well. On 2 June 2012, Messi scored a goal to make it 4-0 in a match between Argentina and Ecuador

On March 4, you will be in a match