Lionel Messi 2017 ليونيل ميسي 2017 리오넬 메시 2017 リオネル・メッシ 2017 लियोनेल मेसी Лионел Меси لیونل مسی -ਲਿਓਨੇਲ ਮੇਸੀ Лионел Меси skills leo messi skills goals Лионель Месси Leo Messi best fights and angry moments 2017
Lionel Messi From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia "Messi" redirects here. For the biopic, see Messi (film). Lionel Messi 2015 UEFA Super Cup 64 crop.jpg Messi with Barcelona during the UEFA Super Cup in August 2015 Personal information Full name Lionel Andrés Messi[note 1] Date of birth 24 June 1987 (age 29) Place of birth Rosario, Argentina Height 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)[1] Playing position Forward Club information Current team Barcelona Number 10 Youth career 1994–2000 Newell's Old Boys 2001–2004 Barcelona Senior career* Years Team Apps (Gls) 2003–2004 Barcelona C 10 (5) 2004–2005 Barcelona B 22 (6) 2004– Barcelona 365 (327) National team‡ 2004–2005 Argentina U20 18 (14) 2008 Argentina U23 5 (2) 2005– Argentina 116 (57) Honours[show] * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 29 January 2017. ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 16 November 2016 Lionel Andrés "Leo" Messi (Spanish pronunciation: [ljoˈnel anˈdɾes ˈmesi] ( listen); born 24 June 1987) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a forward for Spanish club FC Barcelona and captains the Argentina national team. Often considered the best player in the world and rated by many in the sport as the greatest of all time, Messi is the only football player in history to win five FIFA Ballons d'Or, four of which he won consecutively, and the first player to win three European Golden Shoes.[note 2] With Barcelona he has won eight La Liga titles and four UEFA Champions League titles, as well as four Copas del Rey. Both a prolific goalscorer and a creative playmaker, Messi holds the records for most goals scored in La Liga, a La Liga season (50), and a football season (82), as well as those for most assists made in La Liga and the Copa América. He has scored over 500 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.
