LEONEL MESSI - BARCELONA SOCCER STAR
LEONEL MESSI
Leonel Messi was born on the 24th of June 1987 in Rosario, Argentina, a country that has produced dozens of fantastic soccer players including Maradona regarded by many as the greatest soccer player of all time along with Brazil’s Pelé.
Like so many Argentinean kids, Leonel started playing football at the age of 5, influenced by his father who was a coach at a local football club called Grandoli. In 1995 at the age of 8 his dad sent him to Newell's Old Boys, a football club in Rosario that has one of the finest Youth Football Academies in the country.
Everything was going well for the talented Messi, until 3 years later when he was diagnosed with a growth hormone deficiency that fortunately was treatable. This was a big blow to him and his family who could not afford the high monthly cost of the treatment.
FC Barcelona who had been scouting Leonel for some time, and knowing of his enormous potential, decided to help out and signed him up to play in Barca’s Youth Team . After recovering from his treatment in Spain, he played for a few years in the Youth team before moving up to Barcelona’s B team.
It wasn’t long before the diminutive 1,69m tall player made his debut in the senior team soon after his 17th birthday. Since then Leonel Messi has had a meteoric rise in the Catalan Team as well as for the Argentina National Team, thanks to his fabulous passing and goal scoring skills. In fact in the last 2006-2007 season Messi scored some of the most memorable goals in the history of soccer including the unforgettable one against Getafe in 2007, that is just as good as, if not better than Maradona’s fabulous goal against England in Mexico 86.
His 2007-2008 season in Barcelona has so far been outstanding. Frank Rijkaard the Barcelona Manager believes that he is a serious candidate to win the Golden Ball (Ballon d'Or) award in December 2007. Kaka (AC Milan) and Cristiano Ronaldo of Manchester United are also favourites to win this prestigious trophy.
At the moment, and considering that he is only 20, Leonel Messi is a phenomenon that has caught the imagination of the footballing public. His magnificent passing and goal scoring abilities have earned him standing ovations wherever he plays especially in Nou Camp stadium where Leonel has become Barcelona’s new Messiah (El Mes(s)ias).
December 17th 2007 - As widely expected, AC Milan and Brazil star Kaka has won the FIFA World Player of the Year Award which took place in a glittering ceremony in Zurich, beating Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
In a poll taken by all national coaches and captains, Kaka received 1,047 votes, Messi 504 edging out Ronaldo into third place with 426 votes.
Earlier this month the 25-year-old Kaka had also won the European Player of the Year trophy, with Cristiano Ronaldo just beating Leonel Messi to take second spot.
It’s been a magnificent year for these players and by this time next year, barring any major injuries we could be seeing them back in the top of the world again. Leonel Messi is the youngest of the magnificent three. He is still only 20!
