In 2022, Lionel Messi achieved his main goal: winning the World Cup, and he did it with his apparently average team. What will football tomorrow be, depends largely on the destinies of the individual personalities who came into it. Therefore, many fans are eager to learn as much as possible about their idol. After all, the stories of success inspire the younger generation.
Lionel was born in 1987 in Rosario, a big Argentine city in an ordinary family. His father was a worker and ran a soccer club, his mother worked as a cleaner. His sister and two brothers were also raised in the family. Since the age of five, Lionel has been fond of soccer, attending a soccer club where his father was a coach.
The boy spared no effort to train, but at age 12, he was diagnosed with a serious illness – insufficiency of growth hormones. The disease is treatable but requires a large financial investment. Neither his parents nor his club could pay for the treatment. But the tomorrow of Lionel’s football career was put under question.
His father took the boy to Spain, where he impressed Carlos Rexach, the director of the club Barcelona. The team management paid for the move of the young athlete’s entire family to Spain and treatment, which cost 90 thousand dollars a year.
Lionel Messi’s career
So, at the age of 13, young Lionel found himself in the “Barcelona” lineup. He scored four goals in the first game. At the same time, it became clear that the coaches’ calculations were justified. In total, Lionel scored 37 goals during the season. Carried out today livesoccer of matches allowed each time to enjoy the game of an established star.
At that time, Messi scored one goal a game. Lionel first played for “Barcelona” in 2005 in the championship of Spain, he scored a goal against “Albacete”. Then he was 17 years old, and it became clear to everyone that a new superstar of soccer rose in Barcelona. He began to be compared to Diego Maradona.
The Argentine soccer player and the best forward has won many titles and awards during his career:
- 2007, 2008, 2013, 2014 – second world soccer player;
- 2009 – best footballer in Europe according to France Football, the best footballer in the world according to FIFA;
- 2010, 2012, 2013 – UEFA Golden Boot winner;
- 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015 – Winner of the joint prize from France Football and FIFA.
Since 2005, Lionel played for the Argentine home team and became the world champion. Those who watched live soccer today could see that he deservedly won the title of best player and best scorer.
In 2021, Lionel became the only player in the history of Spanish soccer to score 500 goals in the same club.
