Sporteazzy: Lionel Messi

Lionel Andrés Messi (born 24 June 1987 in Rosario) is an Argentine international football player who currently plays for FC Barcelona in the Primera División, and appears on Argentina's national team. Often touted in the media as New Maradona, Messi has been publicly named as his "successor" by Diego Maradona himself.

Career

[edit] Beginnings

Lionel Messi was born in Santa Fe Province on 24 June 1987. At the age of five, he started playing football for Grandoli, a club coached by his father. In 1995, Messi switched to Newell's Old Boys.^[2] At the age of 11, he was diagnosed with a growth hormone deficiency.^[3] River Plate showed interest in Messi's progress, but did not have enough money to pay for the treatment of the illness that cost over £500 a month, as Argentina's economy was collapsing.^{[citation needed]} Carles Rexach, then sporting director of FC Barcelona, was made aware of Messi's talent, and Barcelona signed him after watching him play,^[4] offering to pay for the medical bills if he was willing to move to start a new life in Spain.^[2] His family moved with the young player to Europe and he starred in the club’s youth teams.^[4]

He soon found himself starting for the Barcelona B team, averaging more than a goal per game, by scoring 37 goals in 30 matches.

[edit] Barcelona début

On December 16, 2003, Messi made his début for the first team against FC Porto then, a year later on October 16 came his official début against RCD Espanyol, becoming the third-youngest player^[5] ever to play for FC Barcelona. When he scored his first senior goal for the club against Albacete Balompié on May 1, 2005, Messi was 17 years, 10 months and 7 days old, becoming the youngest to ever score^{[citation needed]} in a La Liga game for FC Barcelona.

[edit] Argentina U-20

Messi was offered the chance to play for the Spanish national side,^{[citation needed]} but he declined, preferring to wait for the opportunity to play for the country of his birth. In June 2004, he got his chance, playing in an under-20 friendly match against Paraguay.

In June 2005, Messi played in the U-20 team that won the Football World Youth Championship in Netherlands, picking up the Golden Boot as top scorer with 6 goals, and the Golden Ball for the best player of the tournament. Despite his youth, Lionel was already being compared to Diego Maradona, one of the greatest football players of all time. On June 27, FC Barcelona renewed his contract until 2010, establishing a selling clause of €150 million (which happens to be 30 million more than his Barcelona team mate, Ronaldinho).^[2]^[6]

[edit] International début

On August 4, 2005, José Pekerman called him up to the senior Argentine national team. On August 17, 2005, he made his début against Hungary. He was put in during the 63rd minute, but was sent off after just 40 seconds, because the referee Markus Merk found he had elbowed the defender Vilmos Vanczák who was tugging Messi's shirt, and left the pitch in tears. The decision was heavily contested as Maradona even claimed the decision was pre-meditated.^[7]^[8] Messi then had his first real international debut on September 3 in Argentina's 0-1 World Cup qualifier away loss against Paraguay playing the last eight minutes of the match.^[9] Ahead of the match he had said "This is a re-début. The first one was a bit short"^[10]

[edit] 2005-06 season

On September 16, for the second time in three months, Barcelona announced an update to Messi's contract - this time improved to pay him as a first team member and extended till June 2014.^[2]^[11] Messi obtained Spanish citizenship on September 25 and was finally able to make his début in this season's Spanish First Division. He had previously been unable to play because FC Barcelona had filled their quota of non-EU players. Messi's first home outing in the UEFA Champions League came on September 27 against Italian club Udinese.^[12] He impressed with some great passing and a seemingly telepathic relationship with Ronaldinho that earned him a standing ovation from the 70,000-odd Nou Camp faithful.^[13] In December of that year, the Italian newspaper Tuttosport awarded him the Golden Boy 2005 title for the best under-21 player in Europe, ahead of Wayne Rooney, Lukas Podolski, and Cristiano Ronaldo.^[14]

Messi netted 6 goals from 17 league appearances and scored 1 Champions League goal from the 6 games he featured in. His reputation for big match temperament was helped by performances in Barcelona's important away leg victories against Real Madrid and Chelsea in the league and Champions League respectively, each considered his best of the respective campaign.^[15]^[4] Messi's season ended prematurely on 7 March 2006, when he tore a muscle in his right thigh during the second leg of the second round Champions League tie against Chelsea.^[16] Barcelona ended the season as champions of Spain and Europe.

[edit] World Cup 2006

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The injury that kept him from playing for two months at the end of the 2005/06 league jeopardised his presence at the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Nevertheless, Messi was selected in the Argentina squad for the tournament on May 15 2006. He also played in the farewell match against the Argentinian U-20 team for fifteen minutes and a friendly against Angola from the 64th minute.^[17]^[18]

Messi witnessed Argentina's opening match win against Ivory Coast from the bench because manager Pekerman wanted to shield him from the pressure.^[19] In the next match against Serbia and Montenegro, he came on as a substitute for Maxi Rodríguez in the 74th minute. In doing so he became the youngest player to represent Argentina at a World Cup. He assisted Hernán Crespo's goal within minutes of entering the game and also scored the final goal in the 6-0 victory. This goal made him the youngest scorer in the 2006 World Cup and the sixth youngest scorer in World Cup history, Pelé being the youngest.^[20] Messi started in Argentina's following 0-0 tie against the Netherlands. Fellow striker Carlos Tevez and he were not allowed much space by the Dutch defence, which prevented him from causing any damage and he was substituted in the 69th minute.^[21]

In the following game against Mexico, Messi came on as a substitute for Javier Saviola in the 84th minute, with the score tied 1-1. He appeared to score a goal, but was ruled offside. Argentina proceeded to win the game 2-1 in extra time.^[22] Messi sat on bench during the quarter-finals match against Germany, which Argentina lost in a penalty shootout.^[23]

[edit] 2006-07 season

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Messi maintained his reputation as a big match player when he tricked Brazilian full back, Roberto Carlos, making him fall over and break a finger during one particularly deft move.^[24] His 89th minute equaliser away to Werder Bremen was pivotal in Barcelona's qualification to the Champions League knock out phase. Messi had another long lay off with a broken metatarsal which kept him out for 3 months.^[25] He sustained the injury in a game against Real Zaragoza on November 12, after tackles from Alberto Zapater and Albert Celades.^[26] On 5 January 2007, Spanish newspaper El Mundo Deportivo reported that Internazionale president Massimo Moratti was planning a £71 million bid for Messi;^[27] however, Moratti denied any immediate plans to sign Messi in an interview posted on Internazionale's official website.^[28] He made his return against Racing Santander on the 11th of February, where he came on as a second-half substitute.[1] On 10 March 2007, he scored a hat-trick against Real Madrid in El Clásico, with his third goal coming in injury time to earn 10-man Barcelona the draw 3-3 at home to Real Madrid. Messi was the first player to score a hat-trick in El Clásico since Iván Zamorano did it for Real Madrid in the 1994-95 season, and the first Barcelona player to do it since Romario scored three against Real Madrid in the 1993-94 season. Messi is the youngest player ever to have scored in El Clásico, and against Recreativo he scored again, his 7th goal. He scored again against Deportivo, from a wonderful pass from Ronaldinho. A wonderful solo goal against Getafe CF in a Copa del Rey game on 18 April further reflected Messi's footballing similarity with Diego Maradona, and has further forged the youngster as one of the hottest prospects in the game^[29]. He scored 2 goals when they beat Atletico Madrid with 6-0, and 2 goals against Espanyol. On the closing day of La Liga, Messi scored two goals against Gimnastic de Tarragona but, despite his efforts to lead his club to victory in that game, Barcelona lost La Liga crown to Real Madrid.

Few days later Spanish news agency EFE awarded him the 2007 trophy for the best Ibero-American football player in La Liga ahead of Daniel Alves from Sevilla and club mate Ronaldinho. Messi gained the title as the youngest player ever and has a buy out clause of 150 million Euros which is the highest in the world.^{[citation needed]}

Messi shortly before scoring the goal against Getafe.

In the 06/07 season, Messi proved the 'new Maradona' tag was not all hype, by near-replicating both of Maradona's most famous goals (the two against England in the 1986 World Cup) in the space of the single season. On April 18, 2007, Messi scored two goals during a Copa del Rey semi-final against Getafe CF, one of which was very similar to Maradona's famous goal against England at the 1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico, known as the Goal of the Century.^[30] Messi's goal is already considered a major contender for the best goal of the year. The world's sports press exploded with Maradona comparisons, and the Spanish press labelled Messi as "Messidona". He ran about the same distance (62 metres), beat the same number of players (six, including the goalkeeper), scored from a very similar position, and ran towards the corner flag just as Maradona did in Mexico 21 years before. In a press conference after the game, Messi's team-mate Deco said: "There's no other like Leo."^[31]

[edit] Copa America 2007

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Messi played his first game in Copa America on 29 June, 2007, when Argentina defeated United States 4-1 in the first game. In this game, Messi showed his capabilities as a playmaker. He set up a goal for fellow striker Hernán Crespo and had numerous shots on target. Tevez came on as a substitute for Messi in the 79th minute and scored minutes later.

His second game was against Colombia, in which he caused a penalty that Crespo converted to tie the game at 1-1. He also played part in Argentina's second goal as he was fouled outside the box, which allowed Juan Roman Riquelme to score from a freekick, and increase Argentina's lead to 3-1. The final score of the game was 4-2 in Argentina's favor and guaranteed them a spot in the tournament's quarterfinals.

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In the third game, against Paraguay the coach rested Messi having already qualified for the quarter-finals. He came off the bench in place of Esteban Cambiasso in the 64th minute, with 0-0. In the 79th minute he created a goal for Javier Mascherano. In the quarterfinals, as Argentina faced Peru, Riquelme made a pass to Messi and the latter scored the second goal for Argentina, which advanced to the semifinals after a 4-0 win.

In the semi finals against Mexico, Messi scored when he spotted the Mexican goalkeeper off of his line and chipped the ball into the goal. The goal ultimately helped his team to a 3-0 victory and earned them a place in the final against Brazil, which Argentina subsequently lost.

[edit] 2007-08 season

Barcelona has kept pace with leaders Real Madrid, in part due to Messi' skills. He scored 5 goals in a week leading Barcelona to the top four in La Liga. He dedicated his 2 goals vs Sevilla (sept 22) to Ronaldinho who was injuried. Only days later, Barca's beating Lyon and Sevilla at home, Messi once again scored two goals against Real Zaragoza leading Barca to a victory of 4-1. Barca visited Levante, winning of 4-1. Thierry Henry scored a hat-trick and Leo Messi added a fourth goal, making Messi is La Liga's joint top scorer. Leo has been nominated for the FIFPro awards under the category of World's best foward. A recent poll conducted in the online edition of the spanish newspaper Marca has him as the current best player of the world (77% votes).[32] Also other spanish newspaper columnists from El Mundo and Sport.es started asking for the Ballon d'Or to be given to Leo Messi this year. [2] Also some spanish sport journalists started to point that if Messi keeps working in this level, he could become one of the greatest of all time like Maradona o Pele. This aseveration was also made by german soccer legend Franz Beckenbauer [3]

[edit] Statistics

[edit] All-time club performance

Club	Season	League		Cup^[32]		Europe^[33]		Total
Club	Season	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
FC Barcelona	2004-05	7	1	1	0	1	0	9	1
	2005-06	17	6	2	1	6	1	25	8
	2006-07	26	14	4	2	6	1	36	17
	2007-08	5	5	0	0	2	2	7	7
Career totals		55	26	7	3	15	4	77	33