Lionel Messi who is also renowned and called Leo Messi by his supporters and fans was born on 25th June,1987. It is one of the most historic days for the world of football as a legend and a phenomenal player Leo Messi was born.
He has been named the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) world player of the year six times (2009–12, 2015, and 2019).
Messi started his journey quite early and was always into playing football back in Argentina, he began his football journey as a boy and due to his swift feet and abilities he slowly started to getting recognized by a lot of people. In 1995 he joined the youth team of Newell’s Old Boys. It was a club based out of Rosario’s top division, this was the first time he started gathering a lot of attention as he was finally playing for a proper youth club where he could compete with players on the same level playing field.
The La Liga season of 2004-2005 was the first time Messi managed to make his mark on the international levels and garner a lot of praise too, he became the youngest official player and goalscorer that season and this was just the start of his illustrious journey.
He was strong, balanced, and versatile on the field despite being only 5 feet 7 inches (1.7 metres) tall and weighing 148 pounds (67 kg). With his left foot, his quickness, and his ability to control the ball precisely, Messi was a natural passer who could easily weave through densely defended areas. He received Spanish citizenship in 2005, which was received with mixed emotions by Barcelona’s fervently Catalan fans. The Champions League (the European club championship) was won by Messi and Barcelona the following year.
Over the years, Messi’s game continued to advance quickly, and by 2008, he was one of the most dominant players in the world, coming in second place to Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo in the voting for the 2008 FIFA World Player of the Year award. With the club’s first “treble”—winning three major European club championships in a single season—Messi capped off an outstanding 2008–09 campaign by assisting FC Barcelona in winning the Champions League, La Liga, and the Copa del Rey. In 51 games that season, he scored 38 goals. He defeated Ronaldo by a record margin in the voting for FIFA World Player of the Year. Messi scored in the 2009–10 season.
The following year, Messi helped Barcelona win the Champions League and La Liga, which helped him win an unprecedented third straight world player of the year award. At the age of 24 in March 2012, he scored his 233rd goal for Barcelona, making him the team’s all-time leading scorer in La Liga games. He broke Gerd Müller’s 39-year-old record for the most goals scored in a single season in a major European football league by scoring 73 goals for Barcelona in the 2011–12 campaign (which included another Copa del Rey victory). Messi became the first player to receive the honour four times after his historic season, which earned him the 2012 world player of the year award. In 2012–13, he scored the most goals in La Liga (46), and Barcelona won the league.
In 2012–13, he led the league with 46 La Liga goals, and Barcelona won another title in the top domestic division. When he scored his 370th goal for the team in 2014, he broke the club’s all-time goal record. In the same year, he also broke the scoring records for both the Champions League and La Liga (with 72 goals) (with 253 goals).
Messi led Barcelona in scoring during the 2014–15 season with 43 goals, earning him his fifth world player of the year award. Messi also assisted Barcelona in winning another treble. In 2015–16, he scored 41 goals for Barcelona across all leagues as the team won the La Liga championship and the Copa del Rey. With 53 goals for Barcelona in 2016–17, Messi set a new record and helped the team win the Copa del Rey. He led Barcelona to another La Liga and Copa del Rey double in 2017–18 with 45 goals. Messi led Barcelona to a second La Liga title in 2018–19 with 51 goals across all domestic competitions. He won his sixth Ballon d’Or of his career in December 2019.
Barcelona won the Copa del Rey in the 2020–21 season, making it Messi’s seventh career triumph. When he became a free agent in 2021, financial difficulties that were partly brought on by La Liga regulations made it difficult for him to re-sign with Barcelona. He left the team having accomplished a number of feats, most notably being the league’s all-time leading goal scorer (474). He signed with Paris St.-Germain later in 2021.
He is currently playing for PSG alongside Neymar and Mbappe and this attacking trio is in for the long run and terrorise more squads, apart from this Messi has an extremely illustrious career still left even though he is in the ending stages of his professional run.
