Lionel Messi He is not a normal football player. Five times winner of the Individual Football Honor, the Golden Ballon, the list of prizes and awards he has won as a player is apparently endless, including Golder’s European shoe (awarded to the Europe’s highest scorer), and the Argentine player of the year no less than eleven times.
Some argue that the largest player’s title should go to his arc rival, Cristiano Ronaldo, who is now climbing his trade with Juventus, and in fact the two men seemed to climb, in a seemingly endless breed to see who can overcome the other. Ronaldo recently scored his 600th goal for domestic football and, in a week, Messi had coincided with the achievement. However, Messi is when it comes to talent and the ability to set goals for all types and varieties. And, without a doubt, Messi is more prepared to put his skills in the services of the collective and the team; With Ronaldo, there is always a feeling that it is still about him.
Early life and career
Messi’s talent was evident from a young age. He joined the Old Boys Youth Academy in Newell when he was only six years old, and in the next six years he scored almost 500 goals.
His football race hardly happened at all. When he was ten, he was diagnosed with a deficiency of growth hormones and his family could not affect the cost of treatment. Newell offered to cover the price, but then renounced the arrangement, causing his family to look for other alternatives. Exploiting family connections in Catalonia, they organized that Messi had a trial with Barcelona. So impressed was the Spanish side that Charly Rexach, the club’s sports director, prepared a contract with Messi on the site, writing it on a paper napkin. Barcelona financed the medical treatment required by the teenager.
Initially affected by the discomfort, Messi was so quiet that his young teammates initially believed that he was dumb. However, once he had settled, he was part of the club’s most successful youth team and quickly ascended through the ranks of the new field, making his first team debut at the age of 16 in a friendly against Porto, then managed by Jose Mourinho.
His debut in the league came when he was introduced as a substitute against Espanyol and scored his first senior goal against Albacete, becoming the youngest scorer in the club.
Turning —sa a superstar
In the 2005 – 2006 season, Messi had settled as a regular first team, with such quality performances that he was named a young player in the world for three successive years between 2006 and 2008.
Messi, affected by injuries in his early years, mainly caused by muscle problems, Messi adopted a new diet, a training regime and lifestyle changes that made him more physically robust and more capable of supporting the challenges of top football. As a result, despite being regularly subjected to mass problems, Messi is relatively free of injuries today and will miss the more matches to give it a break than in the treatment room.
Tiki taka
Barcelona enjoyed its greatest success under the manager Pep Guardiola. With Messi as a focal point of the attack, with Xavi and Andrés Iniesta Tirant in the midfield, the team adopted a football style that became known as Tiki Taka. Evolving from the total football methodology introduced for the first time in the new field by Johann Cruyff in the 70’s, Guardiola made it a game based on possession, short passage and movement. So much success became that the national part of Spain adopted it, helping them to win the World Cup in 2010 and euros in both 2008 and 2012.
The success of the APOGEE of Barcelona came between 2011 and 2012. In 2011, the side won five unprecedented trophies: the League, the Champions League, the UEFA Super Cup, the Super Cup of Space and the FIFA Club World Cup. Messi himself established a new Barcelona record, scoring 53 goals and becoming the first player in Spanish history to break the 50-goals reference point in one campaign.
The following year it went better. He surpassed a 57-year record to become the team’s top scorer of all time and scored 73 goals in all competitions, a new European story. Combined with the goals he scored in an Argentine T -shirt, Messi scored a total of 91 goals in that calendar year, a figure that is unlikely to emulate for the foreseeable future.
Since Guardiola left Spain, there have been signs that Barcelona has suffered a decrease, the most tangible manifestation of which has come to the Champions League, where, in successive years, they have launched three goals in the semifinals phase, first in Rome and then, this year, in Liverpool. They are still dominated, they have never regularly replaced Xavi and Iniesta, and Messi has been trusted too much to win games for themselves. Football is a team sport and, however, it may be an individual, he cannot win games for themselves, or often anyway.
International football
Messi’s greatest disappointment has reached the international stage with Argentina. Despite being the highest scorer in all time, with 65 goals in 129 appearances, all that he must show for his efforts is an Olympic gold medal of Beijing and a medal of winner of the World Cup of FIFA under 20.
However, in the larger tournaments, his team has always been short, especially in 2014 when, with Messi as Captain, Argentina reached the World Cup final, only to go down to Germany after additional time. Half fit, Messi had the opportunity to win the game for his country in the middle time, but the opportunities were begging.
It has also ended with the loss in the three finals of the America Cup. In his first, the 2007 tournament, Messi barely appeared due to his age, but when the 2015 and 2016 finals were shot, his side was strongly inclined to end his Hoodoo trophy, only to lose two occasions in Chile.
Part of the problem is that international tournaments are played in the summer and Messi is always tired after a long and arduous European season. Another issue is that the Argentine side in which he has played is a standard lower than the previous generations. A player as bright as he is too often asked to bring the team to himself on his narrow shoulders. With Barcelona, it is surrounded by top quality players in all areas of the pitch, but the national side is not a patch to their usual team.
There is also the fact that it is not as appreciated in its hometown as in Spain. In part, this is because he never played professional football in Argentina, but he left for Barcelona when he was only 13 years old. There is no identity with him, as there were players like Carlos Tevez, Gabriel Bautista or Diego Maradona, all of whom had careers with one of the two main Buenos Aires Sides, River Plate and Boca Juniors, before leaving Europe.
The pressure to succeed with Argentina has been shown too much on several occasions and has retired from international football in 2016 and, at least officially, in 2018.
Style
With a stature: It is only 5 feet of 7 inches high – Messi has a low center of gravity that contributes to its ability to change direction rapidly and evades adversaries. Mainly left standing, it will often begin attacks from the right and cut off, often leaving a trace of defenders in turn. It is based on short acceleration outbursts to move away from the opponents: his former manager Pep Guardiola said he was the only player who had ever seen who can run faster with the ball than without him.
Messi is one of the best freedom in world football, although it is less confident from 12 meters. A regular penalty for the club and the country, has lacked a lot of times in recent years, as the goalkeepers have known where he likes to place the ball.
What distinguishes Messi from most other players is that, although he is one of the best strikers in world football, he is not a striker in the classic sense. Instead, he often operates as a player, starting attacks and combining with teammates to set up the possibilities of others.
The future
Now 31, Messi has a contract with Barcelona until 2021 and has made it clear that they are the only club that will never play in Europe. However, he expressed a desire to play Newlls Old Boys again in Argentina before retiring, so that one day local fans will have the opportunity to regularly see the football star with the meat. Whether this happens or decides to leave -at the top with the Catalan side, he has already assured a lasting legacy in the game.
And, if he could secure this year’s America Cup with Argentina, he could feel he had achieved almost everything in football he could.
