Lionel Messi, biography, news, photos by Azahar.
Name: Lionel Messi
Birthday: June 24, 1987 (31 years old)
Place of birth: Rosario, Argentina
Height: 169 cm
Weight: 65 kg
Sign of the Zodiac: Cancer
Eastern horoscope: Rabbit
Activities: football player
BIOGRAPHY OF LIONEL MESSI
Each “football generation” has its own heroes: Pele, Diego Maradona, Michel Platini, Zinedine Zidane, and now Lionel Messi – the best football player in the world, playing for “Barcelona” at number 10.
As a poor family boy with a congenital ailment that required expensive treatment, he overcame all difficulties on the way to the fivefold title of the best football player in the world? Details about the way of Leo Messi to success read in our material.
CHILDHOOD AND THE FAMILY OF LIONEL MESSI
Lionel Andres Messi was born on June 24, 1987, in the Argentine city of Rosario. The ancestors of Messi, originally from the Italian city of Ancona, emigrated to Argentina in 1883. Messi’s father – Jorge Horacio Messi – was a steelmaker, mother – Celia Maria Messi – worked as a cleaner. The family had many children: Lionel has older brothers Matias and Rodrigo and sister Maria.
Lionel began to engage in football in 5 years. His father worked as a coach at the local football club “Grandoli”, but for the first time, Lionel was brought to class by his grandmother, the only member of the family who believed in his success in the football field. It took many years, Messi became the greatest football player, and still, after every goal scored, he raises his hands up – in honor of the grandmother, who left this world when he was 10 years old.
At the age of 8, Lionel began to play for the professional football club Newells Old Boys and soon became the captain of the team. In 1997, Leo, together with the club, won the Peru Friendship Cup. In one of the matches, “NOB” scouts of FC “River Plait” noticed him, and the young football player started to play for two clubs at the same time. The terrible news destroyed the boy’s dreams of a football career. At age 11 he was diagnosed with a deficiency of growth hormone, growth hormone. The annual treatment would cost 11 thousand dollars, which neither the River Plate administration nor the parents of Messi could afford.
Father Leo realized that the only chance was to take his son to the shows in Barcelona (previously the club showed interest in a gifted athlete). To the aid came the football agent Horacio Gaggioli, who took the boy to Spain. Horacio himself recalled that when he first saw Lionel, he did not believe in his success: “He was too skinny and shallow, but when I saw him in training in Barcelona, I changed my mind. I realized that he will grow up as a great player. ”
3 October 2000, the Sports Director of “Barcelona” Carles Rexach saw Messi small in action and instantly offered him a contract. The paper at hand was not, and Carles sketched the text of the agreement on the napkin.
The club has paid for the treatment of Lionel and his family moved to Spain. Messi joined the Junior team of “Barcelona” and began training in football Academy “La Masia”. At that time the coach of Juventus, Fabio Capello offered to Barcelona to buy Messi for the best amount, but he refused.
The increase Messi is 169 centimeters, but if he hadn’t managed to get to Barcelona and get the necessary injections, according to the doctors, he is unlikely to be overcome by the 140-inch bar.
FOOTBALL CAREER OF LIONEL MESSI
The debut of Messi’s mostly the “Barcelona” was held on 17 November 2003. It was a friendly match against Porto. Then the authoritative Spanish newspaper “El Mundo” said about his game: “the guys Have a foot of Maradona, Cruyff’s speed and pass Ronaldinho”.
The first official match for Messi became Barcelona – Espanyol (16 October 2004). In the Spanish League 17-year-old Lionel, who replaced, scored his first goal in the “adult” FC “Albacete”. In September 2005 he became a citizen of Spain.
In the Champions League, he made his debut on 7 December of the same year. The match with Ukrainian “Shakhtar” was lost in favor of the Ukrainians 0:2. His first goal in the Champions League, he scored in the match against FC Panathinaikos (2 November 2005). In the final match of the League, he was unable to participate due to injury. In December of the same year was awarded the title of “Golden boy” as the best young player under 21.
In 2005, Messi made his debut for the national team of Argentina. This match against Hungary he will never forget: after 47 minutes, he received a red card, fled to the locker room and cried.
In the Championship of Spain of a season, 2006 Lionel with his famous hat-trick finished the match in a draw 3:3 and got 3rd place in nomination for the Golden ball and 2nd place in the category Diamond ball FIFA, beating Cristiano Ronaldo.
The matches of the 2007/08 season for Barcelona were unsuccessful, numerous injuries Messi did not allow him to play at full strength and the team won 3rd place but ended up in the 1/2 finals of the Champions League. In the same year, Leo in the Argentina national team participated in the Olympic Games in Beijing. Football club Barcelona did not want to let go of their top scorer, and only after talking with head coach Guardiola, the club has agreed to release Messi. Argentina took the first place.
The beginning of 2008/09 was marked by the new changing rooms: after the departure of Ronaldinho, Messi changed his number 19 on its “top ten”. Also Lionel was awarded the Golden Ball as the best player in Europe.
At the beginning of the 2009/10 season, he signed a new contract with Barcelona, which operated until 2016 with the amount of compensation of € 250 million. The beginning of the season was successful: the team won the UEFA Super Cup and Spanish Super Cup. 21 Dec 2009, Messi was named the Best player in the world. And in the same year, the team with the best scorer of Lionel won 6 titles.
16 Jan 2010 in the match Barcelona – Sevilla Messi scored his hundredth goal. At such an early age – 22 years – nobody has been able to achieve such high results. On April 6 match of the 1/4 finals of the Champions League Leo, who scored 4 goals, was named the best scorer.
World Cup Messi played for Argentina against Nigeria, the match ended with the score 1:0 in favor of the Argentines. Lionel had many opportunities to score a goal, but Nigerian goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama was, again and again, saved the team.
On the match against Greece, Messi came on the pitch as the youngest captain in the entire history of the Argentina national team, the match ended in favor of the Argentines 2:0. Leo played well, was named the best player, but not earned points in the system “goal+pass”, and at the end of the group stage, Messi has acknowledged the “useless” player for the team because he missed a large number of successful moments in the game, plus showed the lack of goals and assists.
In the 1/4 finals, the Argentina team lost to Germany 4:0 but, despite the defeat, Messi still was nominated for the “Golden ball” FIFA.
In 2011, the match Barcelona – Sevilla ended with a score of 1:3. To get the Cup, the team had to score two goals per match, but with it, getting the trophy for the 9th time, thanks largely to a famous hat-trick Messi. In the fourth round of the League against Copenhagen, scoring a goal, Leo made goal-scorer with a new record “Barcelona” in the history of the European Cup.
10 Jan 2011 Messi won the Golden Ball as the best player in the World and was the fifth in the history of football, who 2 years in a row to win the most prestigious award in world football.
28 May 2011 Barcelona won the Champions League, and Messi was again named the best player of the match.
In the new 2011/12 season, Barca won the Spanish Super Cup, the match took place in Madrid with well-known rival Real Madrid, but ended in a draw 2:2. In the second leg of Barca won 3:2 thanks to a goal scored by Messi. It was his 200th goal in a professional League.
August 25 journalists from member countries of the EFC in the draw determined the winners of the League tournament in Monaco, 39 votes were cast Lionel Messi now the best player of Europe. And 26 August, Barcelona won the UEFA Super Cup.
In the Spanish League 2011/12 in the match “Barcelona” — “Osasuna” Messi scored a hat-trick, as a result, Barca won with the score 8:0. The second hat-trick was framed against the Madrid team, atlético September 24.
24 Dec 2011 the French newspaper “EKIP” has recognized Argentine footballer, the best sportsman in the world. Lionel scored 807 points, ahead of tennis player Novak Djokovic and racing driver “Formula 1” Sebastian Vettel. Newspaper editorials reported that Messi is the first since 1998, the football player, victorious in this category.
In March 2012 in the match Barcelona – Granada, scoring 3 goals, Leo has established a record of performance in all official matches for Barca. The total amount on account of Messi had already scored 234 goals. 24 APR 2012 in the match “Barcelona” – “Chelsea” Leo missed a penalty, and the results of the two matches with the score 2:3 team didn’t make the final and thus left the fight for the Champions Cup.
But at the end of April, Barcelona defeated Madrid FC Rayo Vallecano with a stunning score of 7:0. In this match on account of Messi two goals and two assists. Last season, Lionel became the top scorer: he has scored 50 goals, thereby bypassing the leader of Real Madrid Cristiano Ronaldo. In February 2012 in the match against Switzerland, Messi again scored his famous hat-trick that led to Argentina’s victory with the score 3:1.
The following season, Messi in the Barca October 27, scored in the gate “Rayo Vallecano” 300th goal in the career. And at the end of 2012, he was voted best player of the year by World Soccer magazine, beating Cristiano Ronaldo and Andres Iniesta. After a month in Zurich, Lionel Messi became the quadruple owner of the award “Golden ball” for the fourth year in a row. 7 Feb 2013 the footballer extended his contract with Barcelona until June 2018.
At the end of 2013, he lost the title of the best player of the year Cristiano Ronaldo, and early next year took second place in the struggle for the “Golden Ball”. But in March 2014 in the 28 round of the championship of Spain, scored a hat-trick, bringing the score his goals for Barcelona to 371. So Messi became the best scorer in the history of Barcelona in all competitions.
In the 2014 World Cup, Argentina’s national team successfully participated and reached the finals, losing team Germany with the score 0:1. In the 2014 World Cup, Messi has played seven matches in which he scored four goals. He was named the best player of the World Cup.
In 2014, the Spanish Director Alex de La Iglesia took an hour and a half documentary about Messi, which told in detail the story of his success. The tape included a video from the archive player.
MESSI AND PROBLEMS WITH THE LAW
In 2013, Messi and his father accused of tax fraud. According to Spanish prosecutors, they have not paid into the national Treasury over 4 million euros. Both accused denied his guilt.
In 2016, Jorge and Lionel were sentenced to a year and 9 months in prison. However, the legislation allowed them to escape penalties: Messi Jr. was paid 2 million euros, his father is 1 million.
PERSONAL LIFE OF LIONEL MESSI
At 18 Lionel Messi met with 14-year-old Macaranas Lemos, a native of Rosario. Young model and promising footballer introduced the girl’s father, eager to benefit attach daughter. However, their relationship did not work – it opposed the mother of Lionel, and particularly warm feelings between them does not arise.
He then met briefly with the Argentine model of “Playboy” Luciano Salazar, Miss Poland Anna Werber, an Argentine model Claudia Ciardone.
In 2009, Lionel was spotted at the carnival in Sitges with a petite dark-haired girl. She pulls from a number of curvaceous blondes who were used to seeing next to Messi. In an interview, the footballer confirmed the seriousness of intentions: “I Have a girlfriend and she lives in Argentina, and I’m happy with it.”
It was later revealed that her name is Antonella Roccuzzo she is also a native of Rosario, moreover, they are familiar from childhood: their parents were friends and Leo himself as a child playing in a field with the cousin Antonella.
In November 2012, Lionel and Antonella had a son, who was named Thiago. In honor of this event, the player tattooed on his leg tattoo with his name and picture hands.
In addition, on the back of Messi’s Packed full tattoo with a portrait of his grandmother (the first tattoo of the athlete), calf number “10” and a dagger at hand – Jesus in a crown of thorns, and the elbow – the stained glass of the churches of his native city.
31 June 2017 Messi and Antonella formalized their relationship. Wedding of the player and his childhood friend was held in the Hotel Rosario. The ceremony was attended by 260 guests and 157 members of the press.
The couple insisted that instead of gifts guests they have transferred money to the account of the Foundation Techo. In honor of the wedding, they made twin tattoos on the fingers – the date of their wedding written in Roman numerals.
For their honeymoon, the couple went to the island of Antigua, however, only for a week.
Wedding dance Messi in the Network criticized: “He dances like a donkey!”.
But soon after the wedding, it became known that Messi will once again be a dad.
In addition to football activities, Messi takes part in the social life on the planet, Lionel – international Goodwill Ambassador of UNICEF. In January 2013 a famous footballer donated 152 thousand euros for the reconstruction of a sports center in his hometown of Rosario.
At different times Messi was the face of video games Pro Evolution Soccer, Adidas, MasterCard, Xbox, McDonald’s, Danone, Pepsi, Lays and many other less known brands.
LIONEL MESSI NOW
In July 2017 Lionel Messi has agreed to a new contract with Barcelona. The new agreement will be valid until 2022 at the time of its completion the player will have 35.
In November of the same year, Lionel Messi in the Argentina national team came to Moscow. Teams of Argentina and Russia met on the sidelines of the friendly match. Messi has played in the capital for a whole week, to the delight of dozens of brave fans that have made a joint selfie with the star of world football. The week was difficult, not only because of the huge number of people willing to be photographed on the fifth day of his visit, during training, over the stadium it started to snow.