Lionel Messi,Barcelona
Lionel Andrés "Leo" Messi (born 24 June 1987) is an Argentine footballer
who plays for FC Barcelona and captains the Argentina national team,
mainly as an forward. Messi received several Ballon d'Or and FIFA World
Player of the Year nominations by the age of 21, and won in 2009 and
2010.He is playing style and small stature has drawn comparisons to Diego
Maradona, who himself declared Messi as his "successor."
Messi began playing football at a young age and his skill and potential
was soon realized by Barcelona. He left Rosario-based Newell's Old Boys's
youth team in 2000 and moved with his family to Europe, as Barcelona
offered treatment for his growth hormone deficiency. Making his debut in
the 2004–05 season, he broke his team record for the youngest footballer
to score a league goal. Major honours soon followed as Barcelona won La
Liga in Messi's debut season, and won a double of the league and
Champions League in 2006. His breakthrough season was in the 2006–07
season; he became a first team regular, scoring a hat-trick in El Clásico
and finishing with 14 goals in 26 league games. Messi then had the most
successful season of his playing career, the 2008–09 season, in which he
scored 38 goals to play an integral part in a treble-winning campaign.
This record-breaking season was then eclipsed in the following 2009–10
campaign, where Messi scored 47 goals in all competitions, equalling
Ronaldo's record total for Barcelona. He surpassed this record again in
the 2010–11 season with 53 goals in all competitions.
Messi has won five La Liga titles, three Champions League titles, scoring
in two of those finals, against Manchester United in both 2009 and 2011.
He was not on the pitch as Barcelona defeated Arsenal in 2006, but
received a winners' medal from the tournament. After scoring 12 goals in
the 2010–11 Champions League, Messi became only the third player (after
Gerd Müller and Jean-Pierre Papin) to top-score in three successive
European Champion Clubs' Cup campaigns. However, Messi is the first one
to win the Champions League top scorer titles for three consecutive years
after Champions League changed its format in 1992.]
Messi was the top scorer of the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship with
six goals, including two in the final game. Shortly thereafter, he became
an established member of Argentina's senior international team. In 2006,
he became the youngest Argentine to play in the FIFA World Cup and he won
a runners-up medal at the Copa América tournament the following year. In
2008, in Beijing, he won his first international honour, an Olympic gold
medal, with the Argentina Olympic football team. At international level
Messi has scored 19 goals in 66 games.
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