Lionel messi
MESssss
—Messi explains his approach to the game in May 2011.[18]
—Diego Maradona hails the 18-year-old Messi as his successor in February 2006.[60]
Lionel Andrés "Leo" Messi Cuccittini[note 1](Spanish pronunciation: [ljoˈnel anˈðɾes ˈmesi] (
listen); born 24 June 1987) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a forward for Spanish club FC Barcelonaand the Argentina national team. Often considered the best player in the world and regarded by many as the greatest of all time, Messi is the only player in history to win fiveFIFA Ballon d'Or awards,[note 2] four of which he won consecutively, and a record-tying fourEuropean Golden Shoes.[note 3] He has won 29 trophies with Barcelona, including eight La Liga titles, four UEFA Champions Leaguetitles, and five Copas del Rey. Both a prolific goalscorer and a creative playmaker, Messi holds the records for most official goals scored in La Liga (361), a La Liga season (50),a club football season in Europe (73), a calendar year (91), as well as those for most assists made in La Liga (140) and the Copa América (11). He has scored over 600 senior career goals for club and country.
listen); born 24 June 1987) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a forward for Spanish club FC Barcelonaand the Argentina national team. Often considered the best player in the world and regarded by many as the greatest of all time, Messi is the only player in history to win fiveFIFA Ballon d'Or awards,[note 2] four of which he won consecutively, and a record-tying fourEuropean Golden Shoes.[note 3] He has won 29 trophies with Barcelona, including eight La Liga titles, four UEFA Champions Leaguetitles, and five Copas del Rey. Both a prolific goalscorer and a creative playmaker, Messi holds the records for most official goals scored in La Liga (361), a La Liga season (50),a club football season in Europe (73), a calendar year (91), as well as those for most assists made in La Liga (140) and the Copa América (11). He has scored over 600 senior career goals for club and country.
Born and raised in central Argentina, Messi was diagnosed with a growth hormone deficiency as a child. At age 13, he relocated to Spain to join Barcelona, who agreed to pay for his medical treatment. After a fast progression through Barcelona's youth academy, Messi made his competitive debut aged 17 in October 2004. Despite being injury-prone during his early career, he established himself as an integral player for the club within the next three years, finishing 2007 as a finalist for both the Ballon d'Or and FIFA World Player of the Year award, a feat he repeated the following year. His first uninterrupted campaign came in the 2008–09 season, during which he helped Barcelona achieve the first treble in Spanish football. At 22 years old, Messi won the Ballon d'Or and FIFA World Player of the Year award by record voting margins.
Three successful seasons followed, with Messi winning three consecutive FIFA Ballons d'Or, including an unprecedented fourth. His personal best campaign statistically to date was the 2011–12 season, in which he set the La Liga and European records for most goals scored in a single season, while establishing himself as Barcelona's all-time top scorer in official competitions in March 2012. He again struggled with injury during the following two seasons, twice finishing second for the Ballon d'Or behind Cristiano Ronaldo, his perceivedcareer rival. Messi regained his best form during the 2014–15 campaign, breaking the all-time goalscoring records in both La Liga and the Champions League in November 2014,[note 4] and led Barcelona to a historic second treble.
An Argentine international, Messi is his country's all-time leading goalscorer. At youth level, he won the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship, finishing the tournament with both the Golden Ball and Golden Shoe, and anOlympic gold medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics. His style of play as a diminutive, left-footed dribbler drew comparisons with compatriot Diego Maradona, who declared the teenager his successor. After making his senior debut in August 2005, Messi became the youngest Argentine to play and score in aFIFA World Cup during the 2006 edition, and reached the final of the 2007 Copa América, where he was named young player of the tournament. As the squad's captain from August 2011, he led Argentina to three consecutive finals: the 2014 World Cup, for which he won the Golden Ball, and the 2015and 2016 Copas América. After announcing his international retirement in 2016, he reversed his decision and led his country to qualification for the 2018 World Cup.
Early life
Club career
International career
Player profile
Style of play
"I have fun like a child in the street. When the day comes when I'm not enjoying it, I will leave football."
Due to his short stature, Messi has a lower centre of gravity than taller players, which gives him greater agility, allowing him to change direction more quickly and evade opposing tackles;[346][347] this has led the Spanish media to dub him La Pulga Atómica("The Atomic Flea").[348][349][350] Despite being physically unimposing, he possesses significant upper-body strength, which, combined with his low centre of gravity and resulting balance, aids him in withstanding physical challenges from opponents; he has consequently been noted for his lack of divingin a sport rife with playacting.[12][347][351] His short, strong legs allow him to excel in short bursts of acceleration while his quick feet enable him to retain control of the ball whendribbling at speed.[352] His former Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola once stated, "Messi is the only player that runs faster with the ball than he does without it."[39] Although he has improved his ability with his weaker foot since his mid-20s, Messi is predominantly a left-footed player; with the outside of his left foot, he usually begins dribbling runs, while he uses the inside of his foot to finish and provide passes and assists.[353][354]
A prolific goalscorer, Messi is known for his finishing, positioning, quick reactions, and ability to make attacking runs to beat the defensive line. He also functions in aplaymaking role, courtesy of his vision and precise passing, and is an accurate free kickand penalty kick taker,[347][355] though his ability on penalties has somewhat deteriorated in recent seasons.[356] His pace and technical ability enable him to undertake individual dribbling runs towards goal, in particular during counterattacks, usually starting from the halfway line or the right side of the pitch.[346][355] Widely considered to be the best dribbler in the world,[357] and one of the greatest of all time,[358] with regard to this ability, his former Argentina manager Diego Maradona has said of him, "The ball stays glued to his foot; I've seen great players in my career, but I've never seen anyone with Messi's ball control."[354] Beyond his individual qualities, he is also a well-rounded, hard-working team player, known for his creative combinations, in particular with Barcelona midfielders Xavi and Andrés Iniesta.[346][347]
Tactically, Messi plays in a free attacking role; a versatile player, he is capable of attacking on either wing or through the centre of the pitch. His favoured position in childhood was the playmaker behind two strikers, known as the enganche in Argentine football, but he began his career in Spain as a left-winger orleft-sided forward.[275] Upon his first-team debut, he was moved onto the right wing by manager Frank Rijkaard; from this position, he could more easily cut through the defence into the middle of the pitch and curl shots on goal with his left foot, rather than predominantly cross balls for teammates.[39]Under Guardiola and subsequent managers, he most often played in a false nine role; positioned as a centre-forward or lone striker, he would roam the centre, often moving deep into midfield and drawing defenders with him, in order to create and exploit spaces for passes, dribbling runs or combinations with Xavi and Iniesta.[18] Under the stewardship of Luis Enrique, Messi returned to playing in the right-sided position that characterised much of his early career,[175] while also being deployed in a deeper, free role.[359] With the Argentina national team, Messi has similarly played anywhere along the frontline; under various managers, he has been employed on the right wing, as a false nine, or in a deeper, creative role as a classic number 10 orattacking midfielder.[282]
Reception
A prodigious talent as a teenager, Messi established himself among the world's best players before age 20.[53] Diego Maradona considered the 18-year-old Messi the best player in the world alongside Ronaldinho, while the Brazilian himself, shortly after winning the Ballon d'Or, commented, "I'm not even the best at Barça," in reference to his protégé.[360][361] Four years later, after Messi had won his first Ballon d'Or by a record margin,[67] the public debate regarding his qualities as a player moved beyond his status in contemporary football to the possibility that he was the greatest player in history.[8][351][362]An early proponent was his then-manager Pep Guardiola, who, as early as August 2009, declared Messi to be the best player he had ever seen.[363] In the following years, this opinion gained greater acceptance among pundits, managers, former and current players,[108][364] and by the end of Barça's second treble-winning season, Messi's superiority, ahead of Maradona and Pelé, had become the predominant view among insiders in continental Europe.[365][366] A frequent dismissal, however, has centred on the fact that Messi has not won the FIFA World Cup with Argentina, leading some in the sport to instead cite him as the best club player in history.[367][368]
"I've seen the player who will inherit my place in Argentinian football and his name is Messi."
Throughout his career, Messi has been compared with his compatriot Diego Maradona, due to their similar playing styles as diminutive, left-footed dribblers. Initially, he was merely one of many young Argentine players, including his boyhood idol Pablo Aimar, to receive the "New Maradona" moniker, but as his career progressed, Messi proved his similarity beyond all previous contenders, establishing himself as the greatest player Argentina had produced since Maradona.[16][273] Jorge Valdano, who won the1986 World Cup alongside Maradona, said in October 2013, "Messi is Maradona every day. For the last five years, Messi has been the Maradona of the World Cup in Mexico."[369]César Menotti, who as manager orchestrated their 1978 World Cup victory, echoed this sentiment when he opined that Messi plays "at the level of the best Maradona".[370] Other notable Argentines in the sport, such asOsvaldo Ardiles, Javier Zanetti, and Diego Simeone, have expressed their belief that Messi has overtaken Maradona as the best player in history.[371][372][373]
In Argentine society, Messi is generally held in lesser esteem than Maradona, a consequence of not only his uneven performances with the national team, but also of differences in class, personality, and background. Messi is in some ways the antithesis of his predecessor: where Maradona was an extroverted, controversial character who rose to greatness from the slums, Messi is reserved and unassuming, an unremarkable man outside of football.[245][374][375] An enduring mark against him is the fact that, although through no fault of his own, he never proved himself in theArgentine Primera División as an upcoming player, achieving stardom overseas from a young age,[12][245] while his lack of outward passion for the Albiceleste shirt—he does not sing the national anthem and is disinclined to emotional displays—have in the past led to the false perception that he felt Catalan rather than truly Argentine.[280][281] Despite having lived in Spain since age 13, Messi has said: "Argentina is my country, my family, my way of expressing myself. I would change all my records to make the people in my country happy."[376] In November 2016, with theArgentine Football Association being run by a FIFA committee for emergency due to an economic crisis, it was reported that three of the national team's security staff told Messi that they haven't been given their salaries for six months. He has stepped in and paid the salaries of the three members.[377][378][379]
Comparisons to Cristiano Ronaldo
Among his contemporary peers, Messi is most often compared and contrasted with Portuguese forward Cristiano Ronaldo, as part of an ongoing rivalry that has been compared to past sports rivalries like the Muhammad Ali–Joe Frazier rivalry in boxing, the Björn Borg–John McEnroe rivalry in tennis, and theAyrton Senna–Alain Prost rivalry from Formula One.[380][381] Although Messi has at times denied any rivalry,[382][383] they are widely believed to push one another in their aim to be the best player in the world:[158]since 2008, Ronaldo has won four Ballons d'Or to Messi's five,[384] and four European Golden Shoes to Messi's three.[385] Pundits and fans regularly argue the individual merits of both players;[158][386] beyond their playing styles, the debate also revolves around their differing physiques—Ronaldo is 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) with a muscular build—and contrasting public personalities, with Ronaldo's self-confidence and theatrics a foil to Messi's humility.[387][388][389] Messi faces Ronaldo at least twice every season in El Clásico, which ranks among the world's most viewed annual sports events.[390] Off the pitch, Ronaldo is his direct competitor in terms of salary, sponsorships, and social media fanbase.[390]
In popular culture
Personal life
Career statistics
Club
- As of 4 November 2017
Notes
- ^ One appearance in UEFA Super Cup, two appearances in Supercopa de España
- ^ One appearance in UEFA Super Cup, one appearance and two goals in Supercopa de España, two appearances and two goals inFIFA Club World Cup
- ^ a b c d e Appearances in Supercopa de España
- ^ One appearance and one goal in UEFA Super Cup, two appearances and three goals in Supercopa de España, two appearances and two goals in FIFA Club World Cup
- ^ One appearance and two goals in UEFA Super Cup, two appearances and one goal inSupercopa de España, one appearance and one goal in FIFA Club World Cup
International
- As of 11 October 2017
Notes
- ^ Nine appearances and five goals in South American Youth Football Championship, seven appearances and six goals in FIFA World Youth Championship
- ^ Appearances in Summer Olympics
- ^ a b c d e f Appearances in FIFA World Cup qualification
- ^ a b c Appearances in FIFA World Cup
- ^ Six appearances and two goals in Copa América, four appearances and two goals inFIFA World Cup qualification
- ^ Four appearances in Copa América, four appearances and two goals in FIFA World Cup qualification
- ^ Appearances in Copa América
- ^ Five appearances and three goals in FIFA World Cup qualification, five appearances and five goals in Copa América
Honours and achievements
See also
References
External links
- Official website (in Catalan) (in English)(in Spanish)
- Profile for FC Barcelona
- Profile at La Liga
- Lionel Messi at ESPN FC
- Lionel Messi at BDFutbol
- Lionel Messi at Soccerway
- Lionel Messi at Soccerbase
- Lionel Messi at National-Football-Teams.com
- Lionel Messi – FIFA competition record
- Lionel Messi – UEFA competition record
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