signature move: his dribbles
Full name: Lionel Andrés MessiDate of birth: 24 June 1987
Place of birth: Rosario, Argentina
Height: 1.69 m (5 ft 7 in)
Playing position: Forward / Winger
Current club: Barcelona
Number: 10
Lionel Messi
Lionel Messi is a very skilled player who is well known for his dribbles. He is considered to be one of the best football players today. Unlike Cristiano Ronaldo Messi doesn´t use a lot of tricks but instead has great dribbles. Messi has a great acceleration which he uses to get past defenders.
Biography of Messi
Messi´s youth
Lionel Messi was born on 24 june 1987 in Rosario Argentina. In his youth he played for the Argentine club Newell´s Old Boys in his home town Rosario. He was soon recongized as a great talent and many clubs showed interest in him. At the age of 11, he was diagnosed with a growth hormone deficiency. His parents couldn´t afford to pay for medical treatment but FC Barcelona did and so Messi and his family moved to Spain.
Messi´s debut
At 16 november 2003 at an age of 16 Messi made his debut for the first team of Barcelona in a friendly match against José Mourinho's Porto. Less than a year later on 16 October 2004 he made his debut in La liga under coach Frank Rijkaard. When he made his first goal at 1 may 2005 against Albacete Messi was only 17 years, 10 months and 7 days old. He was the youngest player ever to score a goal for Barcelona in La Liga(until Bojan Krkic broke his record). In the 2005/2006 season Messi scored 6 goals in 17 matches togethere with Ronaldinho he was one of the greatest players of Barcelona. Barcelona became champion of Spain and won the champions league. In the 2006-2007 season Messi scored a hat-trick in El Clásico against Real Madrid in a 3-3 draw. At the World Cup of 2006 in Germany later that year he scored his first goal at a World Cup.
Maradona
Messi was already seen as a successor of Maradona when he scored a goal against Getafe that was similair to that of Maradona's solo goal against England at the 1986 World Cup. Later that year he also made a goal with his hand that was similair to Maradona's Hand of God goal against England.
Best player of the world
Messi kept scoring goals giving assits and making dribbles for barcelona he was wideley seen as one of the best players of the world. He made 38 goals in the 2008-2009 season and won the champions league. In the 2009-2010 season he scored 47 goals. In 2009 he became FIFA World player of the year and European Footballer of the year he know was the best player of the world.
At present
Messi played at the FIFA 2010 World Cup in South Africa for Argentina under coach Diego Maradona, with which he had often been compared. He gave several assists at his teammates and made a few good dribbles but he didn's score a goal. Argentina's tournament ended in the quarter finals against Germany with a 4-0 loss. In the 2010-2011 season Messi already scored 23 goals in 19 matches so far(until 4 december 2010), he made his 100th La Liga goal against Almeria. He won with 5-0 against Real Madrid which is the biggest el classico win since 1994, the year in which Barcelona was called the dreamteam under Johan Cruyff.
