Many of us are football enthusiasts, and when it comes to naming the best football player that there is or was, people start arguing and making endless points to prove why their choice on this matter is justified and true. However, we won’t argue, although we are sure that Messi is certainly the best in a few aspects of the game. What we would do is we will narrate to you our version of Lionel Messi Biography.
We can vividly remember when we thought that Messi and Ronaldo would be forever linked with Barcelona and Real Madrid and that Messi would be the world’s greatest one-club player. But after Ronaldo departed from Juventus, Messi was also destined to leave Barcelona due to clubs and his decision.
We often avoid diving deep into the details of these events in football. Still, considering the interesting facts you might find about the player in them, we would also cover these minor points in Lionel Messi Biography. So you can say that this would be a very detailed biography of a Legend.
The tale of a legend, also known as Lionel Messi Biography
This Lionel Messi biography before you, is constructed and organized so that even individuals who have no idea of football can easily comprehend it and learn information about the celebrity footballer. So, without further ado, let’s hop into the article and present you with everything about Lionel Messi.
Lionel Messi introduction
As promised, we will go through the most basic information about Lionel Messi so that people who don’t like football but like to amass information on celebrities will clearly understand Lionel Messi stats and his current team.
- Name: Lionel Andrés Messi
- Age: 35
- Height: 1.70 m
- Nationality: Argentina
- Current Team: Paris Saint-Germain
- Number: 30
- Position: Forward
Let us start the story of 35 years of seamless football, shall we?
Childhood and family
Lionel Messi was born in Rosario, Santa Fe, Argentina, on June 24, 1987. Lionel Messi real name is Lionel Andrés Messi. The nicknames Leo, atomic flea, la pulga, la pulga Atomica, and Macedonia are among Messi’s supporters’ more humorous ones. Jorge Horacio Messi, his father, was a manager at a steel company.
Celia Maria Cuccittini, his mother, was a stay-at-home mom. Rodrigo Messi is the elder of Messi’s two brothers, and Matisse Messi is the name of the younger. He has a sister named María Sol Messi as well.
Lionel Messi’s family were passionate about football since Messi was a young boy. His family wanted him to become a baller, thus planting the seed of passion for football in his heart.
Even though Massi’s family was struggling financially, his father persisted. He promised to give his child every convenience that would help him succeed.
When Messi was small, he enjoyed playing with his older brothers. As a child, Messi enjoyed spending time with his grandmother, who was always there to encourage him.
Grandma insisted that he get his first football uniform, which he did. At the time, Messi’s grandmother also wanted him to play football. He joined the neighborhood football team Granddoli as its first player when he was four years old.
Leo’s grandmother used to inspire him by telling him he’d one day be the best football player in the entire world. At the same age, he got into a local youth academy, but it wasn’t until he was eight that his training got serious.
He joined Newell’s Old Boys youth program when he was eight years old, getting his first taste of professional football.
Messi’s youth academy and the start of his career
How did Messi get into Barcelona? In this section of Lionel Messi biography, we have covered his early career days fully, from Hormone deficiency to being accepted into Barcelona.
Messi was suffering from a hormone deficit that constrained his growth because he was noticeably smaller than the majority of children in his age group.
Messi’s parents, Jorge and Cecilia, agreed to put their son on a schedule of nightly growth hormone injections. But it quickly became hard for them to afford the expensive medication.
Thus, when Messi was 13 years old and took the opportunity to train at F.C. Barcelona’s La Masia youth program and have his medical expenses paid for by the team, Messi’s family packed up and traveled across the Atlantic to establish a new life in Spain. Although frequently missing his native land, Messi advanced fast through the junior system.
Finally, Messi has been compared to another renowned Argentine player, Diego Maradona, due to his tiny size (5 feet, 7 inches), speed, and aggressive attacking approach.
Senior career
By the time he was 16 years old, Messi had already made his debut for F.C. Barcelona. On May 1, 2005, he became the youngest player to have ever scored a goal for the team. In the same year, he helped Argentina win the under-20 World Cup by scoring twice in penalty kicks to defeat Nigeria.
Barcelona enjoyed great success under Messi’s leadership, most notably in 2009 when the left-footer’s squad won the Champions League, La Liga, and Spanish Super Cup. Following a second-place and third-place finishs, he won his first FIFA “World Player of the Year” honor/Ballon d’Or that same year.
By the conclusion of 2012, Messi had scored an amazing 91 goals in club and international competition, surpassing Gerd Muller’s 1972 record of 85 goals scored in a single year.
He received his fifth FIFA Ballon d’Or award in 2015 after aiding Barcelona in their historic second treble. Four years later, after winning another La Liga championship, Messi again raised the bar by winning his sixth Ballon d’Or.
And until 2021, his accomplishments remained with the squad.
Messi chose to quit the team and join PSG despite his phenomenal achievements as a team player from 2003 to 2021.
Messi managed to add another Ballon d’Or after signing with PSG, bringing his total to seven. He had a poor debut season with the team for two main reasons.
First, when the Covid epidemic struck in 2021-22, the world of football abruptly stopped; Messi also tested positive for the virus. Second, as he had previously only played for Barcelona, he needed to adjust to the new team. But, following the first season and up to now, the man is returning to his prior form and contributing greatly to the club.
International career
Messi, who holds dual nationality with Argentina and Spain, could represent either nation’s national team, but he went with Argentina.
At age 18, Messi made his Argentina senior debut at Ferenc Puskás Stadium.
Messi has drawn criticism for his inability to assist Argentina’s national side in winning a major championship prior to the most recent World Cup despite his success with Barcelona.
When Argentina lost to Chile in the Copa America championship final in 2016 for the second time in a row, Messi announced he was leaving the national squad.
The legendary soccer player eventually changed his mind. However, participating in the 2018 World Cup did not result in the title he had hoped for.
Messi’s early goal in a 2-1 victory over Nigeria helped his team progress from the group stage, but France largely contained him, and his two assists weren’t enough to prevent a 4-3 loss that eliminated Argentina.
Yet, he excelled in the World Cup 2022 and led his team to the finals, where Argentina met France and defeated them on penalties to break Messi’s World Cup trophy drought.
This achievement of this trophy further established Messi’s name among the best players in football history.
Lionel Messi wife
When many athletes let their wealth influence them and begin switching up their relationships, Messi stayed strongly with his lifelong partner and stuck with her till the very end. Let us elaborate more on this topic in this section of Lionel Messi biography.
When Messi was five years old, he first encountered Roccuzzo in their native Argentina. The professional athlete left home at the age of 13 to continue his soccer training in Spain, despite forming a sweet bond with Roccuzzo.
Once Messi learned that the model’s best friend had passed away in a horrific vehicle accident, they eventually reunited in 2005. To console Roccuzzo, the Paris Saint-Germain F.C. player took a flight back to his birthplace almost four years before they made their relationship known to the world.
Messi proposed to his girlfriend, and two years later, they welcomed their son Thiago. The couple, who also have sons named Mateo (born in 2015) and Ciro (born in 2018), married in Rosario, Argentina, in July 2017.
Messi himself commented on his situation of having three kids:
“You grow and you learn. You gather experience in all aspects of life, on and off the field, but, as a human being, having three children changed my perspective on life and my way of thinking and helped me grow.”
Personal life
Messi has a deep bond with the people in his family, especially his mother, Celia. His work life is essentially managed as a family business: his older brother, Rodrigo, manages his daily schedule and publicity, and his father, Jorge, has been his agent since he was 14.
The Leo Messi Foundation is run by his mother and brother, Matias, who also handles his personal and professional affairs in Rosario.
This foundation contains the majority of Messi’s life outside football.
Messi reportedly gave €1 million ($1.1 million/£870,000) to be split between a Hospital Clinic in Barcelona and another medical facility in Argentina during the coronavirus outbreak of 2020.
Together with his charitable contributions at the time, Messi led the Barcelona players in a show of support for the club’s non-playing employees by taking a pay cut of 70%, ensuring their full compensation.
The Leo Messi Foundation (Fundacion Leo Messi), which offers a variety of philanthropic services to those in need all over the world, is where Messi spends the majority of his charitable contributions.
Particular emphasis is placed on enhancing children’s lives and funding healthcare services globally, particularly in Argentina, Messi’s birth country, and Spain, his adoptive country. We will talk more about his foundation in the next section of Lionel Messi biography.
More on Fundacion Leo Messi
Leo Messi’s foundation accounts for a large portion of Lionel Messi life story; therefore, allow us to go into more detail and provide you with information about what this foundation does.
The Argentine’s connection to Unicef dates back to 2010 when he was named a Goodwill Ambassador for the organization, joining celebrities like David Beckham and Shakira.
Since then, he has participated in a number of projects, such as the “celebrate life” initiative on the occasion of the first birthday of his son Thiago, which aimed to raise awareness of the high rate of infant death.
Messi has visited natural catastrophes stricken areas that are affected by poverty, sickness, and several other debilitating societal disadvantages as part of his ambassadorial work for Unicef.
Like many athletes, Messi still has a soft spot for his childhood and has donated some of his fortunes to the sport from which he originally came.
For instance, from 2012 to 2014, he contributed funds to support the operation of the local Rosario youth team Sarmiento and assisted in funding the construction of a gym for his schoolboy club Newell’s Old Boys.
The Leo Messi Foundation has also collaborated with the Special Olympics in Catalonia, helping to organize sporting events for kids with impairments and dog-assisted rehabilitation programs.
In an effort to further the treatment of leukemia, his organization partnered with the Josep Carreras Leukemia Foundation in 2019.
Lionel Messi honors
Most of his team trophies are from the time he was playing for Barcelona. He spent more than 15 years with the club, so it is natural for him to link most of his awards to Barcelona. He has contributed to Barcelona’s 10 La Liga and 4 Champions League victories.
For PSG, in his two-year tenure, he won League 1 title in 2021–22. Another trophy to mention for Messi and PSG is Trophée des Champions for 2022.
Being considered one of the best players in the world comes with a long list of individual awards. For his individual awards, he has won the Ballon d’Or award seven times as well as the European Golden Boot six times, the most that a player has ever won.
He also won The Best FIFA Men’s Player title twice and was named the FIFA World Player of the Year once. Some of his minor awards are six times La Liga Best Player, 15 times Argentine Footballer of the Year, and two times Copa América Best Player.
On an international level, Messi has recently expanded his awards list with Copa America and CONMEBOL–UEFA Cup of Champions trophies. As Argentina defeated France in the tournament’s championship match, the World Cup 2022 was lifted by Leo for the first time in his career.
This was all there is to Lionel Messi biography. Did we miss anything? Let us know!
