considered the best player in the world. But despite so many individual virtues, he is also a remarkable team player.
This Argentinian striker's footballing career started in 1995 at
Newell's Old Boys, where he played until the year 2000. At the age of
13, Lionel Messi crossed the Atlantic to try his luck in Barcelona, and
joined the Under 14s.
Messi made spectacular progress at each of the different age levels,
climbing through the ranks to Barça C, followed by Barça B and the first
team in record time.
In the 2003-2004 season, when he was still only 16, Messi made his
first team debut in a friendly with Porto that marked the opening of the
new Dragao stadium.
The following championship-winning season, Messi made his first
appearance in an official match on October 16, 2004, in Barcelona's
derby win against Espanyol at the Olympic Stadium (0-1). With several
first team players seriously injured, the services of several reserve
team players were called upon, and Messi became a regular feature of
Barça squads.
On May 1, 2005, he became the youngest player ever to score a league
goal for FC Barcelona - against Albacete when Messi was only 17 years,
10 months and 7 days old. That record would eventually be beaten by
Bojan.
At the Under 20 World Cup in Holland, Messi not only won the title
with Argentina, but was also the leading goalscorer and was voted best
player in the tournament. Aged 18 years, he had become one of the
hottest properties in the world game. Shortly after, he made his first
full international appearance in a friendly against Hungary.
His breakthrough came in the 2005-06 season, starting with an amazing
performance in the Joan Gamper Trophy match against Juventus. He was
also outstanding at the Santiago Bernabéu, in Barcelona's unforgettable
3-0 win, and also at Stamford Bridge, in the Champions League match
against Chelsea. Injury kept him sidelined for much of the latter stage
of the season, but Messi still played a total of 17 league games, 6 in
the Champions League and 2 in the Copa del Rey, and scored eight goals
The following season Messi moved up a gear and astounded the world
with goals such as the one he scored against Getafe in the Copa del Rey.
In the 2006/07 season, and even though the team didn't win any titles,
the Argentine was second in the FIFA World Player awards and third in
the Ballon d’Or. He continued to develop in the 2007/08 campaign, when
he scored 16 goals and gave 10 assists in the 40 games he played in. In
2008, Leo Messi was runner up in the FIFA World Player awards for the
second season in a row.
In the 2008/09 season, and now without Ronaldinho alongside him,
Messi became the main star of the Barça show. He managed to stay injury
free all season, and played 51 games, scoring 38 goals. The Argentinian
was also fundamental in the Copa del Rey and Champions League finals,
scoring Barça's second goals in both. In 2009, he finally won both the
FIFA World Player and Ballon d’Or.
How far can Leo Messi go? He was the league's top scorer in the
2009-10 season and equalled Ronaldo's historic total of 34 goals
(96-97). He scored the goal against Estudiantes that won Barça the
Club's first World Club Cup.
But without settling for that, the Argentinian went even further in
the 2010/11 season, scoring no fewer than 53 official goals, a Spanish
record only matched by Cristiano Ronaldo (that very same season). Messi,
like in Rome, played a vital role in the Champions League final at
Wembley were scored a scorcher from outside the area to put his team
ahead. In 2011, he also won the Ballon d’Or for the third time, a feat
only previously achieved by Cruyff, Platini and Van Basten.
The season 2011/12 is when Messi moves past César Rodríguez's record
of 232 goals to become the Club's all time top goalscorer. He achieves
this on the 20th of March 2012 in a 5-3 victory over Granada in which he
scores a brilliant hat-trick.
Two days earlier, on March 7, 2012, the football world watched in awe
as he scored five goals in a single game against Bayer 04 Leverkusen.
On May 5, 2012, the Leo Messi legend was extended in the derby
against Espanyol, when he made it to an unprecedented 50 goals in a
league season, having scored four goals in three different matches. A
remarkable season ended with one of the finest goals of his career in
the Copa del Rey final against Bilbao. In the 2011/12 season he has
scored in every competition he played in, totally an astonishing 73 as
Barça conquered the Spanish Supercup, European Supercup, Clubs World Cup
and the Copa del Rey. He ended 2012 with the record number of goals in a
calendar year (91), thus beating the historic tally established by Gerd
Müller (85 for Bayern Munich and Germany in 1972).
Messi is also
captain of the Argentina national and has played in two World Cups
(2006 and 2010) and two Copa Americas (2007 and 2011). In the summer of
2008 he also played at the Beijing Olympics, and came home with a gold
medal.
summer. He will not have bargained
on neither of those sides being Real Madrid.