BIOGRAPHY

Lionel Andres Messi

·         QUICK FACT

·         NAME: Lionel Andres Messi

·         OCCUPATION: Children's Activist, Soccer Player.

·         BIRTH DATE: June 24, 1987

·         Height: 1.69 m (5 ft 7 in)

·         PLACE OF BIRTH: Rosario, Argentina

·         FULL NAME: Luis Lionel Andres Messi

·         AKA: Lionel Messi

·         NICKNAME: "La Pulga"

·         NICKNAME: "Leo"

·         ZODIAC SIGN: Cancer

History

Born on June 24, 1987, in Rosario, Argentina, soccer player Lionel Messi moved to Spain at the 

age of 13, after the FC Barcelona club agreed to pay for hormone-deficiency treatments.

Messi became a star in his new country, scoring at will while leading his club to championships.

 In 2012, he set a record for most goals in a calendar year, and afterward was named FIFA's 

"Player of the Year" a record fourth time.

Lionel Messi was born Luis Lionel Andres Messi on June 24, 1987, in Rosario, Argentina. 

As a young boy, he tagged along when his two older brothers played soccer with their friends,

 unintimidated by the bigger boys. At the age of 8, he was recruited to join the youth system of

 Newell's Old Boys, a Rosario-based club. Recognizably smaller than most of the kids in his age

 group, Messi was eventually diagnosed by doctors as suffering from a hormone deficiency that

 restricted his growth.

Messi's parents, Jorge and Ceclia, decided on a regimen of nightly growth-hormone injections for their son, though it soon proved impossible to pay several hundred dollars per month for the 

medication. So, at the age of 13, when Messi was offered the chance to train at soccer

 powerhouse FC Barcelona's youth academy, La Masia, and have his medical bills covered by 

the team, Messi's family picked up and moved across the Atlantic to make a new home in Spain.

KING OF SPAIN: SOCCER CAREER

Although he was often homesick in his new country, Messi moved quickly through the junior system ranks,

and by the age of 16, he had made his first appearance for Barcelona. Messi put himself in the record books

 on May 1, 2005, as the youngest player to ever score a goal for the franchise. That same year, he led

Argentina to the title in the under-20 World Cup, scoring on a pair of penalty kicks to propel the team over

Nigeria.

Messi eventually grew to 5 feet and 7 inches, and with his short stature, speed and relentless attacking style,

he drew comparisons to another famous Argentinean footballer: Diego Maradona. Messi steered Barcelona to a wealth of success, most notably in 2009, when the left-footer's team captured the Champions League, La Liga, and Spanish Super Cup titles. That same year, after two consecutive runner-up finishes, he took home 

his first FIFA "World Player of the Year" honor/Ballon d'Or award.

Even the great Maradona gushed about his fellow countryman. "I see him as very similar to me," the retired

 player told the BBC. "He's a leader and is offering lessons in beautiful football. He has something different to

 any other player in the world."

Amazingly, the diminutive soccer wizard continued to improve, discovering new ways to elude defenders

while leading Barcelona to La Liga and Spanish Super Cup championships in 2010 and 2011, as well as the '11

Champions League title.

Messi embarked on an all-out assault on the record books in 2012. He became the first player to score five

goals in a Champions League match in early March, and a few weeks later he surpassed Cesar Rodriguez's

club-record 232 goals to become Barcelona's all-time leading scorer. By the end of 2012, Messi had

accumulated an astounding 91 goals in club and international play, eclipsing the 85 netted in a single calendar

year by Gerd Muller in 1972. Fittingly, he broke one more record when he was named the FIFA Ballon d'Or

winner for the fourth time in January 2013.