Lionel Andrés Messi's 27th birthday.

Full Name：Lionel Andres Messi
Nickname：leo、Small flea、Sisi
Nationality：Argentina
2nd Nationality : Spanish
Birthplace：Rosario, Santa Fe, Argentina
Birthday：June 24, 1987
Height：169cm
Weight：67kg
Position：Forward
Number : 10
Idol : Maradona
Sport Event：Soccer
Team：FC Barcelona
Favorite city：Inverness, Rio Gallegos and Tulcea
Characteristics：Excellent speed, good awareness,
dribbling and shooting skills
Girlfriend：Antonella Roccuzzo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    Lionel Andres Messi is an Argentine football player, who was born on June 24, 1987. He plays mainly as a forward as well as an attacking midfielder and he plays for FC Barcelona currently and he is the current captain of the Argentina national team. Messi is called "the new Maradona" by the general public. On 19 December，he was given both the Golden Ball Award and the FIFA World Player of the Year award for his excellent performance during 2008-2009 season which helped Barcelona win the unprecedented treble. Messi won the Golden Ball Award on Jan 11, 2011 and he was reelected on Jan 9, 2012. Messi represented Argentina to play in World Cup2006 and 2010, 2007 and 2011 Copa América, also in Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

Individual awards:

FIFA Ballon d'Or: 2010, 2011
Ballon d'Or: 2009
FIFA World Player of the Year: 2009
World Soccer Player of the Year: 2009, 2011
World Soccer Young Player of the Year: 2006, 2007, 2008
ESM Team of the Year: 2005–06, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2009–10, 2010–11
European Golden Shoe: 2010, 2012
La Liga top goalscorer: 2010, 2012
Copa del Rey top goalscorer: 2011
La Liga Player of the Year: 2009, 2010, 2011
LFP Best Player: 2009, 2010, 2011
LFP Best Forward: 2009, 2010, 2011
La Liga Foreign Player of the Year: 2007, 2009, 2010
La Liga Ibero-American Player of the Year: 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012
UEFA Champions League top goalscorer: 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012
UEFA Best Player in Europe Award: 2011
UEFA Club Footballer of the Year: 2009
UEFA Champions League Forward of the Year: 2009
UEFA Champions League Final Man of the Match: 2011
UEFA Team of the Year: 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011
Onze d'Or: 2009, 2010, 2011
Bravo Award: 2007
Tuttosport Golden Boy: 2005
FIFA Club World Cup Golden Ball: 2009, 2011
FIFA U-20 World Cup Player of the Tournament: 2005
FIFA U-20 World Cup top goalscorer: 2005
Copa América Young Player of the Tournament:2007
FIFPro World Young Player of the Year: 2006, 2007, 2008
FIFPro World XI: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011
Sportsperson of the Year of Argentina: 2011
Footballer of the Year of Argentina: 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011
Male Best Athlete in Latin America: 2011
Marca Leyenda: 2009
L'Équipe Champion of Champions: 2011
World's Top Goal Scorer of the Year: 2011


Profile:
Teenage     Messi played for the local Grandori club at the age of 5, coached by his father. When he was 7 years old, the little guy was greatly appreciated in Newells Old Boys team. But he was diagnosed with developmental hormone deficiency at the age of 11, which would hinder his bone growth. The economic conditions of his home couldn’t bear the treatment costs, but his talent took Barcelona Rexach’s fancy and in 2000 Messi was took to Camp Nou by Rexach, the whole family moved to Europe at that time.

Barcelona’s Youth Period
    In September 2000, 13-year-old Messi went to Barcelona for a trial with only 140cm height. Messi's performance in the trial conquered the Barcelona youth team coach, they were too excited to sign a contract which would expire until 2012 that they even forgot the FIFA regulation--players under the age 20 shall not sign more than 5 year work contract with the club. FC Barcelona had made tremendous efforts to help Messi to grow, under the treatment arranged by the club, Messi’s height reached 169cm in 2003, the Catalonia coach didn’t hesitate to register his name in the club and arranged medical treatment for him.

Club Career:
Early stage in first team:     November 16, 2003, Lionel Messi appeared in a friendly against Porto on behalf of Barcelona for the first time (when he was 16 years and 145 days), one year later he made his debut in Primera Liga (17 years and 114 days), in which he represented Barcelona in the league against Spain. Thus he became the third youngest appearing player of Barcelona in history and the youngest played in the league in club (Bojan broke the record later). May 1, 2005, Messi scored goals against Albacete and became the youngest goal scorer in the Barcelona league in an age of 17-year-old, 10 months and 7 days. (Also broken by Bojan later)

05-06 Season     Messi came to the foe during 05-06 season, he obtained Spanish citizenship on Sep 2005 and was finally able to make his debut in the season's Spanish First Division. Messi appeared in Barcelona's stadium, Camp Nou for the first time during the Champions League on 27 September against Italian club Udinese. Fans gave Messi a standing ovation upon his performance, as his composure on the ball and passing combinations with Ronaldinho made great contributions for Barcelona. But his season ended prematurely on 7 March 2006, when he suffered a muscle tear in his right thigh during the second round Champions League tie against Chelsea.

06-07 Season     On March 11, 2007, he notched a hat-trick in the game against Real Madrid and became the second player who scored three goals alone during the century competition after Zamorano.On April 18, 2007, Lionel Messi copied Diego Maradona’s five-competitor-dribbling in the World Cup against Getafe in the Copa del Rey semi-final. He was called the "new Maradona" then.

07-08 season     He continued to develop in the 2007/08 campaign when he scored 16 goals and gave 10 assists in the 40 games he attended. In 2008, Leo Messi was runner up in the FIFA World Player Award for the second season in a row.

08-09 season     Messi inherited the No. 10 jersey after Ronaldinho's departure from the club, this season was also the peak year for him in Barcelona. He scored 38 goals in all competitions and helped the team to win La Liga, the King’s Cup and Champions League trophy. He became the top scorer in the Champions League with 9 goals. With the outbreak of this year, Messy top in the world in one fell swoop, in the end of 2009, he was elected the European Player of the Year and the World Player of the Year.

(Messi kissed boot UEFA champions league final-Barcelona vs Man.Utd 2009)

09-10 season     Messi played in the Primera Liga 35 times, scoring 34 goals, which tied Ronaldo's single-season scoring record in La Liga and helped the team win the league title. Once again he became the the Champions League best scorer with eight balls. Messi was named winner of the 2009 Ballon d'Or on 1 December 2009, beating runner-up Cristiano Ronaldo by largest ever margin of 473 to 233. On 21,Dec 2009, he was given the FIFA World Player of the Year award, beating Cristiano Ronaldo, Xavi, Kaká and Andres Iniesta to the award. This was the first time he had won the award, and he became the first Argentinian to ever receive this honour. He was named La Liga player of the year for the second year on 3 June 2010. He finished the season with 47 goals in all competitions.

10-11 season     On 21 August 2010, Messi scored a hat-trick in his first start of the season in a 4–0 victory over Sevilla FC in the Supercopa de España, helping Barcelona secure their first trophy of the season after a 1–3 first leg loss. Messi won the 2010 FIFA Ballon d'Or, beating his teammates Xavi and Iniesta, nominating for the awards for four consecutive year. The Argentinian went even further in the 2010/11 season, scoring no fewer than 53 official goals, even broke Cristiano Ronaldo’s Spanish record. 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. He finished the 2010-11 season with 53 goals and 24 assists in all competitions.

International career :
Argentina’s National U-20 team     On June 2004, Lionel Messi played in the U20 competition in Paraguay on behalf of Argentina for the first time. Argentina won the World Youth Championship in 2005 and Messi won the Golden Globe and Golden Boot award.

Argentina's National Team     Messi made his full international debut on 17 August 2005 against Hungary at the age of 18. He was substituted on during the 63rd minute, but was sent off on the 65th minute because the referee. On 3 September Messi returned to the team in Argentina's World Cup qualifier away defeat to Paraguay. He said before the match "This is a real debut, the first one was a bit short." He started his first game for Argentina against Peru, in which he was able to win a crucial penalty for Argentina; He scored his first goal for Argentina in a friendly match against Croatia on 1 March 2006. On 28 March 2009, Messi wore the number 10 jersey for the first time in a World Cup Qualifier against Venezuela. Argentina won the match 4–0 with Messi opening the scoring.

2006 World Cup     He witnessed Argentina's opening match victory against Ivory Coast from the substitute's bench. In the next match against Serbia and Montenegro, Messi became the youngest player to represent Argentina at a World Cup when he came on as a substitute for Maxi Rodríguez in the 74th minute, but he didn’t score goals in that match. Messi started in Argentina's following 0–0 draw against the Netherlands.In the following game against Mexico, Messi came on as a substitute in the 84th minute, with the score tied at 1–1. He appeared to score a goal, but it was ruled offside with Argentina needing a late goal in extra time to proceed.

↑(2006world cup Argentina v Mexico--Carlos and Messi)

2007 Copa América     After the disappointing experience in World Cup, Messi nealy gained the first team honor in the 2007 America's Cup, but it was a pity that he was runner-up in the end.

↑（Messi in Brazil vs Argentina Final Copa America2007）

2008 Beijing Olympics     In the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Argentina won the gold medal. Messi scored the opening goal and assisted Ángel di María in the second to help his side to a 2–1 extra-time win against the Netherlands. Messi's performance in the South Africa World Cup qualifier was not good enough, but Argentina eventually promoted with a narrow victory, which made the new World Player retain the opportunity to prove himself in the World Cup final stage.

↑（Lucas VS Messi in Beijing Olymipcs）

2010 World Cup     Messi played the entire game on Argentina's opening match 1-0 victory against Nigeria. Messi started in Argentina's following 4-1 win against Korea Republic; he participated in all of the goals of his team and helped Gonzalo Higuaํn score a hat-trick. On the third and last group stage match Messi captained during Argentina's 2-0 win over Greece, again being the centrepoint of Argentina's play and was voted man of the match. The World Cup ended for Argentina with a 4-0 loss against Germany.

↑(Messi in the 2010 World Cup)

Technical Features
Shots: 10     Finesse shots were mostly found in Messi’s initial stage, which contained high technical skill. After he played as centre forward, his superb shot was even showed more clearly. He scored 47 goals in the 2009-2010 single-season for Barcelona and 53 goals during 2010-2011, which has fully proved his shots.

Pass: 10     Messi is good at cooperating with teammates, his strong ability to read the game is reflected in his choice when he took ball. If a breakthrough does not right, Messi will start the Xavi model, made fatal assists to teammates. In the 10-11 season he made 25 assists as a striker, this data can well explained his accurate pass.

Dribbling: 10     Messi has a amazing sense for the ball and his foot, when he takes the ball, it is like the ball is glued to his feet, the opponents are hard to kick off the ball from his feet. The biggest weapon for his opponent is his dribbling break. Superior ball sense, speed, breaking power and balance combined as the most powerful dribbling strength, he can find possibility to make a breakthrough in a small space.

Speed: 10     Messi's speed in 5 m is 20km / h, the speed within 12m ~ 16m is 28km / h, it is outstanding. He can start fast, to turn and stop in emergency, no one can match his speed in today's football world.

Header: 7.5     Messi is not high enough, header is not his best goal pattern , but his header always break the impasse for the team at crucial moments. Messi’s header once sealed the victory for Barcelona in the 2009 Champions League final. His favorite position is not center, but t second striker or swimming winger that can takes he ball facing of the restricted area for offensive. 　

Skill: 10     His feet skill is very flexible and delicate, he often shows his rapid change to shake away opponents in small-scale area, no one can match him in dribbles.

Free Kick: 8     His kick has improved a lot with his own growth, he had few free kicks scoring in the league of last season.