Lionel Messi
Football player
Lionel Andrés Messi (born 24 June 1987) is an Argentine footballer who plays in La Liga for FC Barcelona and is the captain of the Argentina national team, mainly as a forward. By the age of 21, Messi had received Ballon d'Or and FIFA World Player of the Year nominations. The following year in 2009 he won both the Ballon d'Or and FIFA World Player of the Year, and won the inaugural FIFA Ballon d'Or in 2010 and 2011. He also won the 2010–11 UEFA Best Player in Europe Award. Messi is the fourth football player to win three Ballons d'Or, after Johan Cruyff, Michel Platini and Marco van Basten and the second player to win three consecutive Ballons d'Or, after Michel Platini. His playing style and small stature have drawn comparisons to Diego Maradona, who himself declared Messi as his "successor". Messi has won five La Liga titles and three Champions League titles. In 2012, Messi made UEFA Champions League history by becoming the first player to score five goals in one match, in a 7–1 win against Bayer Leverkusen. With two goals in the next round against A.C. Milan, he matched José Altafini's record of 14 goals in a single UEFA Champions League/European Cup season. He also became the first player to top-score in four successive European Champion Clubs' Cup campaigns. He set the world record for most goals scored in a season during the 2011–12 season, with 73 goals. Messi was the top scorer of the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship with six goals. In 2006, he became the youngest Argentine to play in the FIFA World Cup and he won a runners-up medal at the Copa América tournament the following year. In 2008, he won his first international honour, an Olympic gold medal, with the Argentina Olympic football team.
Personal facts
| Birth date | June 24, 1987 |
|---|
| Birth name | Lionel Andrés Messi |
|---|
| Birth place | Santa Fe Province , Argentina national football team , Argentina , Rosario Santa Fe |
|---|
| Nationality | |
|---|
| Ethnicity | |
|---|
| Religion | |
|---|
| Residence | Barcelona , Catalonia , Spain |
|---|
| Relatives | |
|---|
| Height (meters) | 1.69 |
|---|
