Lionel Messi - The Living Legend (Biography)

Early Life

Messi was born on 24th June 1987 in Rosario,Santa Fe,Argentina.His mother never knew what her son would turn out to be.As a child Messi was diagnosed with a growth hormone deficiency.His father Jorge Messi was a factory worker.Messi's cousins Maximiliano and Emanuel Biancucchi are professional footballers too,but not as famous as Messi. Leo started his career in Newell's Old Boys in Argentina when he was just 6 years old.He played for Newell's for 6 years and scored more than 500 goals.At the age of 10 Messi's future was threatened as he was suffering from growth hormone deficiency. As his father's health insurance covered only two years of , which cost at least 1,000 per month, Newell's agreed to contribute, but later reneged on their promise.He was scouted by Buenos Aires club River Plate, whose playmaker,Pablo Aimar, he idolised, but they were also unable to pay for his treatment due to the country's economic collapse.As the Messi family had relatives in Catalonia, they sought to arrange a trial with in September 2000. First team director Charly Rexach immediately wanted to sign him, but the board of directors hesitated; at the time it was highly unusual for European clubs to sign foreign players of such a young age. On 14 December, an ultimatum was issued for Barcelona to prove their commitment, and Rexach, with no other paper at hand, offered a contract on a paper napkin. In February 2001, the family relocated to Barcelona, where they moved into an apartment near the club's stadium,Camp Nou. During his first year in Spain, Messi rarely played with the Infantiles due to a transfer conflict with Newell's; as a foreigner, he could only be fielded in friendlies and the Catalan league. Without football, he struggled to integrate into the team; already reserved by nature, he was so quiet that his teammates initially believed he was mute. At home, he suffered from homesickness after his mother moved back to Rosario with his brothers and little sister, María Sol,while he stayed in Barcelona with his father.

After a year at Barcelona's youth academy,La Masia, Messi was finally enrolled in the Royal Spanish Football Federation in February 2002. Now playing in all competitions, he befriended his teammates, among whom were Cesc Fàbregas and Gerard Piqué . After completing his growth hormone treatment aged 14,Messi became an integral part of the "Baby Dream Team", Barcelona's greatest-ever youth side. During his first full season, in 2002–03, he was top scorer with 36 goals in 30 games for the Cadetes A, who won an unprecedented treble of the league and both the Spanish and Catalan cups.The Copa Catalunya final, a 4–1 victory over Espanyol, became known in club lore as the partido de la máscara, the final of the mask. A week after suffering a broken cheekbone during a league match, Messi was allowed to start the game on the condition that he wear a plastic protector; soon hindered by the mask, he took it off and scored two goals in 10 minutes before his substitution. At the close of the season, he received an offer to join Arsenal, his first from a foreign club, but while Fàbregas and Piqué soon left for England, he chose to remain in Barcelona.