THE G. O. A. T

Luis Lionel Andres “Leo” Messi was born on June 24, 1987, in Rosario, Argentina. As a young boy, Messi 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. He has won the Ballon D'Or, the annual award given to the best player in the world, 8 times, 2022 FIFA World Cup winner and an Olympic gold medal winner in 2008. He was born in 1987 in Rosario, Argentina's third-biggest city. He showed an enormous aptitude for football and was in the youth teams for Newell's Old Boys, his local team. Faced with mounting medical expenses to treat a growth hormone condition, Messi's family accepted an offer to move the 13-year-old prodigy to FC Barcelona, who would pay for his treatment. Messi has gone on to become one of the most decorated players in football history and has broken countless records for his club and his country. He plays as a forward and captain both Inter Miami C.F. and the Argentina National Football Team. Considered the best player in the world and regarded as one of the greatest players of all time, Messi has won a record eight Ballon d'Or awards and a record six European Golden Shoes. He has spent his entire professional career with FC Barcelona, where he has won a club-record 34 trophies, including ten La Liga titles, four UEFA Champions League (1992) titles and six Copas del Rey. Messi holds the records for most goals in La Liga (474), a La Liga and European league season (50), most hat-tricks in La Liga (36) and the UEFA Champions League (1992) (8). He has scored over 900 senior career goals for club and country. An Argentine international, Messi is his country's all-time leading goalscorer. At youth level, he won the FIFA U-20 World Cup 2005 (2005), finishing the tournament with both the Golden Ball and Golden Shoe, and an Olympic gold medal at the Beijing 2008: Games of the XXIX Olympiad (2008). After his senior debut in August 2005, Messi became the youngest Argentine to play and score in a 2006 FIFA World cup Germany (2006), 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 FIFA World Cup Brazil (2014), for which he won the Golden Ball, and the Copa América 2015 (2015) and Copa América Centenario (2016). After announcing his international retirement in 2016, he reversed his decision and led his country to qualification for the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia (2018), and a third-place finish at the Copa América Brasil 2019 (2019). In the 1/8 finals match of 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia (2018) against the future winner of the tournament, France National Football Team, Messi gave two assists, but the Argentines lost with a score of 3:4 and ended their participation in the tournament. On July 10, 2021 the Argentina National Football Team beat Brazil in the final of Copa America 2021 (2021) with a score of 1:0. Thus, Lionel Messi won his first trophy with the national team. He also became the tournament's top scorer (shared with Luis Fernando Díaz from Colombia). In the final match of 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar (2022) against France in the first half, Messi opened the scoring from the penalty spot. Regular time ended with the score 2:2, at the beginning of the second extra period Messi put Argentina ahead. However, Kylian Mbappé managed to level the score from the penalty spot, scoring his third goal of the game (3:3). In the penalty shoot-out, Messi was the first to beat for Argentines and converted his shot. As a result, the Argentines won the series with a score of 4:2 and became three-time world champions. Messi was named the best player of the match and was also named the best player of the tournament overall. His playing style and skills have been compared to the Argentine legend Diego Maradona. There is much competition between him and Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo. In 2009, Messi was included in the "World Player of the Decade 2000s", ranking second behind Ronaldinho but ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo.[10] Messi has played alongside many football greats, such as Ronaldinho, Deco, Samuel Eto'o, Luis Suárez, Xavi, Andrés Iniesta, Sergio Busquets, and Neymar.[11] Messi played his first professional match at 16 years old on 16 November 2003 against Porto. He played the 2003-04 season with the Barcelona B team. He was promoted to the A team for the 2004-05 season, and made his league debut on 16 October 2004 against Espanyol as a substitute. He made his league debut at age 17, and became the youngest player to play for Barcelona's first team in an official competition. He scored his first professional goal on 1 May 2005 against Albacete Balompie from a sublime assist by Ronaldinho. The goal made him the youngest-ever scorer for the club at that time. Barcelona won the La Liga that season for the first time in 6 years, and won the league for a second time in a row along with the Spanish Super Cup and UEFA Champions League in 2006. His first breakthrough season was in the 2006–07 season; he became a first team regular by scoring his first hat-trick of his career in El Clásico. On 18 April 2007, he scored a goal almost exactly identical to Maradona's "Goal of the Century" against England in the 1986 World Cup, where Maradona got the ball behind the halfway line on the right side and beat 4 defenders and the goalie to score. Messi's goal was similar to this; he received a pass from Xavi on the right side behind half-field, and then nut-megged an opponent and 4 others including the goalie before finishing off with his right foot inside the penalty box.[12] In 2019, Barcelona fans voted it as the best goal in the club's history, receiving 45% of votes.[13] After Ronaldinho left the club at the end of the 2007-08 season, Messi was handed the number 10 shirt. The 2008-09 season was arguably one of the most successful seasons in his stellar career. In this season, Messi scored 38 goals in all competitions, including one in the Champions League final against Manchester United that Barcelona won 2–0 as part of their treble. In the following 2009–10 season, Messi scored 47 goals in all competitions. That levelled to Ronaldo Nazario's record total for Barcelona. Messi also won his first Ballon d'Or in December 2009, and also won his second a year later. He scored again in the 2011 Champions League final against their same opponent two years earlier, Manchester United. Barcelona won 3-1. Messi won his third Ballon d'Or in a row that year. After a situation involving FC Barcelona and their overwhelming wage bill, Messi made the most shocking transfer to the French football club Paris-Saint Germain. On 7 June 2023, Messi confirmed in an interview that he was joining Inter Miami of Major League Soccer (MLS)