Messi Biography

Messi was born on June 24, 1987 at the Hospital Italiano Garibaldi, Rosario, Santa Fe, to the parents of Jorge Horacio Messi (born 1958), a factory worker, and Celia María Cuccittini, part-time cleaners. Paternal family comes from the Italian city of Ancona, where his ancestor, Angelo Messi, emigrated toArgentinain 1883. He has two older brothers named Rodrigo and Matías and a sister named María Sol.At age of five, Messi started playing football for Grandoli, a local club coached by his father Jorge.

Messi, who stands just 5 feet 7-inches, began his career in the game at age 8, when he began playing for Newell’s Old Boys, a team in Rosario.

Since the age of 11, he suffered a hormone deficiency and as Lionel parents can not afford to pay for treatment in Argentina, At age 13, when Messi was offered the chance to play for Barcelona with a chance to have medical bills paid by the team, Messi took the family and moved across the Atlantic to create a new home in Spain.

Club Football ( Barcelona ) 

Messi makes official debut with the first team against FC Porto on16 November 2003. Less than a year later he made his official debut against Espanyol onOctober 16, 2004, becoming the third youngest player ever to play for FC Barcelona and youngest club player who played in La Liga (a record broken by team mate Bojan Krkic in September 2007). When he scored his first senior goal for the club against Albacete Balompié onMay 1, 2005, Messi was 17 years, 10 months and 7 days old, became the youngest ever to score in La Liga game for FC Barcelona until 2007.

With several first team players seriously injured, the services of several reserve team players called upon, and Messi became a regular feature of the Barca squad. OnMay 1, 2005, he became the youngest player to have scored a league goal for FC Barcelona – againstAlbacetewhen Messi was only 17 years, 10 months and 7 days old. Record that would eventually beaten by Bojan.

His breakthrough as a player came in the 2005-06 season, starting with the exceptional performance in the Joan Gamper Trophy match against Juventus. He also circulated at the Santiago Bernabeu, in a memorable 3-0 victory Barcelona, and also atStamfordBridge, in the Champions League match againstChelsea. Injury kept him out for over the final stages of the season. Messi played a total of 17 league games, six in the Champions League and two in the Copa del Rey. Messi scored eight goals.

International Football – Argentina U-20

In June 2004, he got a chance, playing in U-20 friendly match against Paraguay. In 2005 he was part of a team that won the U-20 World Cup in the Netherlands. He also won the prize for best player of the tournament and became top-scorer.

Argentina National Team

On August 4, 2005, José Pekerman called Messi toArgentina’s senior national team. He made his debut on August 17, 2005againstHungary, but it was a forgettable occasion. He was replaced at the 63rd minute, but delivered after just 40 seconds, because the referee, Markus Merk, found he had elbowed defender Vilmos Vanczák, which attracted Messi’s shirt, and left the field crying. The decision was controversial. Maradona even claimed the decision was pre-meditated. Messi then had his first international start on 3 September in Argentina’s 0-1 World Cup qualifier away loss againstParaguay. Ahead of the match he said “This is a re-debut. The first is rather short.”

Birthday: : 1987/06/24
Full name : Lionel Andres Messi
Place of Birth : Rosario, Argentina
Height :1.69 m (5 ft 61⁄2 in)
Weight : 67 kg
Position : Attacking midfielder/ Forward
Nickname(s) : “the new Diego Maradona”, The Flea
Wife / girlfriend : Antonella Rocuzzo
Lives in : Barcelona

article source : wikipedia