1. Overview 

Messi started playing football at an early age and his talent was discovered by the Barcelona club. He left his hometown team Newell’s Old Boys in 2000 and moved with his family to Spain after Barcelona offered to support him with treatment costs for growth hormone deficiency. Making his debut in the 2004-2005 season, he broke the record for the youngest player to appear in La Liga and became the youngest player to score in this tournament at that time. The titles that came to Barca right in Messi’s first season were the La Liga championship, and they won the double when winning both La Liga and the C1 Cup in the 2006 season. 2006-07 was the breakthrough season of he: became an important player in the I squad, scoring a hat trick in El Clásico and ending the season with 14 goals in 26 matches. The 2008-09 season was Messi’s most successful season when he scored 38 goals and became a key factor in the Catalan team’s six-peat. This record was later broken in the 2009–10 season, when Messi scored 47 goals in all competitions, equaling Ronaldo’s record at Barcelona. He continued to surpass this achievement again in the 2010–11 season with 53 goals in all competitions. In the 2011-12 season, he set a record for becoming the player to score the most goals in a La Liga season with 50 goals, and also set a record for the player to score the most goals in a La Liga season with 50 goals. all competitions, with 73 goals. Since he started playing for Barcelona in 2005, he has always been a key factor in every victory of the Catalan giants. With Barcelona, ​​Messi has won many different big and small titles, including 10 La Liga championships, 4 Champions League championships, and 6 Spanish King’s Cup championships. He scored 2 goals in the 2009 Finals and the 2011 Finals against rival Manchester United. He is currently the record holder for scoring the most goals in a season for Barcelona with 73 goals. He is also the first person to win the UEFA Champions League top scorer award three times in a row since the tournament was renamed. 
Messi is the first player in football history to receive the Golden Ball 5 times (counting both before and after merging the two FIFA Player of the Year awards and the European Golden Ball into the FIFA Golden Ball in 2011), ranked above legends such as Johan Cruyff, Michel Platini and Marco van Basten, who all received the Golden Ball three times and is the second player to receive the Golden Ball three times in a row, after Michel Platini. In 2012, Messi became the first player to score five goals in a UEFA Champions League match, in a 7–1 win over Bayer Leverkusen. Later that year, he broke the record for being the player who scored the most goals in a calendar year with 91 goals. Two years later, Messi finished second in the race to win the Golden Ball, behind Cristiano Ronaldo.

By the 2014-15 season, Messi was the driving force that helped Barcelona win the treble for the second time in the club’s history. He continued to win 3 more La Liga titles with the team in 2016, 2018 and 2019. Messi currently holds the record for the player who scores the most goals and assists the most goals in La Liga, and is also the Top scorer in Barcelona club history. Messi also became the second player, after Xavi, to have appeared 700 times in Barcelona’s shirt. Messi has scored 614 goals for the Barcelona club, only needs to score 30 more goals to break Pelé’s record, the player who scores the most goals for one club (643 goals).Messi was the top scorer of the 2005 U-20 World Cup with 6 goals, including 2 goals in the final. Not long after that, he was called up to the Argentina national football team. In 2006, he became the youngest Argentine player to compete in a World Cup and finished second in the 2007 Copa América. In 2008, in Beijing, he won his first international title. when winning the Olympic gold medal with Argentina’s Olympic team. He is currently the player with the most goals for the Argentina National Football Team. As captain of the national team since August 2011, he and the Argentina team reached the finals of three consecutive major tournaments: World Cup 2014, the tournament in which he won the Golden Ball, along with two Copa America in 2015 and 2016.

After announcing his retirement from the national team in 2016, he reversed his decision and led the Argentina team to qualify for the 2018 World Cup. With 70 goals for the national football team Argentina, Messi is the second South American player after Pelé to score the most goals at Copa America (77 goals). On July 31, Messi set a record of becoming the player who won the Best FIFA Men’s Player award (6 times). On December 2, 2019, at the 64th Golden Ball awards ceremony in Paris, France. Messi won the Golden Ball for a record 6th time, becoming the first player to win 6 Golden Balls, more than his great rival Cristiano Ronaldo (5 times).
  

2. Childhood

Messi was born on June 24, 1987 in Rosario, Argentina to father Jorge Horacio Messi (born 1958), a factory worker, and mother Celia Maria Cuccittini, a janitor. His paternal family originated from the city of Ancona in Italy and moved to Argentina in 1883. He had a younger sister named Maria Sol and two older brothers named Rodrigo and Matias. At the age of 5, Messi began playing football for Grandoli, a local team coached by his father.

In 1995, Messi moved to Newell’s Old Boys, a team located in his hometown of Rosario. At age 11, he was diagnosed with a problem with growth hormone. Club River Plate has shown interest in Messi, but does not have enough money to pay for his medical treatment, which costs about $900 a month. Carles Rexach, FC Barcelona’s sporting director, was interested in his talent because Messi had acquaintances in Lleida, Catalonia, and Messi and his father arranged a trial. Barcelona signed a contract with him after seeing him play, agreeing to pay for medical treatment and guarantee Messi’s family’s jobs if he moved to Spain. What is special is that the initial contract The agreement between him and the club was drafted on napkin with signatures of both parties. On December 14, 2000, his family moved to Europe and he began playing for the youth soccer team.
 

3. Club career

3.1. Barcelona
 

Lionel Messi made his unofficial debut for the Barca first team in a friendly match against FC Porto on 16 November 2003 (at the age of 16 years and 145 days). Almost a year later, Frank Rijkaard gave him his first La Liga debut against Espanyol on 16 October 2004 (at the age of 17 years and 114 days), becoming the third youngest player to ever play for Barca and became the youngest player of a La Liga team (this achievement was later broken by Bojan Krkić in September 2007). When he scored his first official goal for the team against Albacete on 1 May 2005, Messi was 17 years, 10 months and 7 days old, becoming the youngest player to ever score for Barcelona in La Liga until 1995. 2007 when this achievement was broken by Bojan Krkic with a goal from an assist from Messi.[35] Talking about former coach Rijkaard, Messi said: “I will never forget that he was the one who started my career. That he put his trust in me when I was 16 or 17 years old.

3.1.2. 2005–06 season

Messi, at age 18, played with Málaga in 2005

On September 16, 2005, for the second time in three months, Barcelona provided updated information about Messi’s contract; This time it has improved and he is considered a member of the first team and his contract will last until June 2014. Messi was recognized as a Spanish citizen on September 26, 2005 and was then allowed to play his first match in La Liga. His first match in the C1 Cup was against Udinese on September 27 at Nou Camp. In this match, Messi, with his ability to control the ball and coordinate with Ronaldinho, made a big impression when Barcelona won 4-1 against the Italian club.Messi scored 6 goals in 17 appearances in the national championship, and scored 1 goal in the C1 Cup in 6 appearances. However, his season ended on 7 March 2006 after he encountered a Injured in the second leg of the Champions League knockout round against Chelsea. Frank Rijkaard and Barcelona ended the season with the Spanish and European championships. 

3.1.3. 2006–07 season
 

In the 2006-07 season, Messi earned an official place in the squad, scoring 14 goals in 26 matches. On November 12, in the match against Real Zaragoza, Messi suffered a serious injury that forced him to sit out for 3 months. Messi recovered from his injury in Argentina, and returned against Racing Santander on February 11, a match in which he came on as a substitute. On March 11, the El Clasico match saw Messi show his top form when he scored a hat trick to help Barca with only 10 people on the field hold Real Madrid 3 – 3, in which the final goal came on addition time. Thanks to that, he became the first player since Iván Zamorano (scoring for Real Madrid in the 1994-95 season) to score a hat trick in an El Clasico match. Messi is also the youngest player to ever score in matches like this (19 years, 8 months and 14 days). Thanks to that, by the end of the season he scored more regularly; 11 of his 14 La Liga goals came in the last 13 matches.

Messi in the match against Rangers in 2007

Messi also proved that people calling him “the new Maradona” is not wrong by scoring the famous goals that Diego Maradona once scored. On April 18, 2007, he scored two goals in the Copa del Rey semi-final against Getafe CF, one of which was very similar to the goal considered the Best of the Century. The world’s sports community compared him to Maradona, and the Spanish press gave him the name “Messidona”. He ran the same distance, 62m, beat the same number of players (6 players including the goalkeeper), scored from a very similar position, and ran to the corner flag just like Maradona did 21 years ago. before. In an interview after the match, his teammate Deco said: “That was the most beautiful goal I have ever seen in my life.” In the match against RCD Espanyol, Messi also scored a goal similar to the goal that Maradona scored against England in the quarterfinals of the 1986 World Cup. Messi rushed forward and used his hands to put the ball into the net of goalkeeper Carlos Kameni. Although the Espanyol players reacted violently and the video tape also proved that it was a handball, the goal was still recognized.

3.1.3. 2007–08 season
 

In the 2007-08 season, Messi scored 5 goals in a week to help Barca reach the top 4 in La Liga. On September 19, 2007, he scored a goal to help Barcelona defeat Olympique Lyonnais 3-0 at home in a Champions League match. He scored two goals against Sevilla on September 22 and then on September 26, Messi scored another two goals in a 4-1 win over Real Zaragoza. On February 27, 2008, Messi played his 100th official match for Barca in a match against Valencia CF.He was named to the professional footballers association’s best team of the year for the striker position. An online vote was conducted by Spanish newspaper Marca and he was chosen as the best player in the world with 77 percent of the votes. Commentators for the newspapers El Mundo Deportivo and Sport said the European Ballon d’Or should be awarded to Messi, something supported by Franz Beckenbauer. Professional players like Francesco Totti said they consider Messi to be one of the best players in the world today.Messi was sidelined for 6 weeks after an injury he suffered on March 4 in a match against Celtic in the C1 Cup. It was the 4th time in 3 seasons that Messi encountered the same type of injury.

3.1.4. 2008–09 season

 After Ronaldinho left the team, Messi inherited the number 10 shirt. On October 1, 2008, in the C1 Cup match against Shakhtar Donestk, Messi, after coming on to replace Thierry Henry, scored 2 goals in the last 7 minutes. , helping Barcelona come back to win 2-1. The next match is against Athletico Madrid, a confrontation between close friends Messi and Sergio Agüero. Messi scored from a free kick and created another situation to help Barca win 6-1. Messi scored another impressive goal against Sevilla FC from a volley from 23 yards and then dribbled past the goalkeeper and scored another goal. On 13 December 2008, in the first El Clasico of the season, Messi scored the second goal to help Barcelona defeat Real Madrid 2-0. He was also elected Player of the Year for the second time with 678 points.Messi scored his first hat trick in 2009 in the Copa del Rey in the match against Athletico Madrid to help Barcelona win 3-1. Messi scored another important double on 1 February 2009, after coming off the bench to help Barcelona come from behind to beat Racing Santander 2–1. The second of those two goals was Barca’s 5,000th goal in La Liga. In round 28 of La Liga, Messi scored his 30th goal in all competitions that season, helping the team win 6-0 against Málaga CF. On 8 April 2009, he scored 2 goals against Bayern Munich in the European Cup, setting a personal record of 8 goals in the competition. On 18 April, Messi scored his 20th goal of the season in a 1–0 win over Getafe CF, helping Barcelona extend their lead to 6 points over Real Madrid.