LIONEL ANDRS MESSI

His full name is Lionel Andrs Messi. Messi, who was born on 24th June 1987, is an Argentine soccer player. He plays in Barcelona Football Club and the Argentine national team. He started playing soccer for a local in Argentina. When he was 11 years old, he was diagnosed with a growth hormone deficiency. At that time River Plate was interested in him, but the club didnt have money to spend for his treatment. His father arranged a trial in Barcelona and the club was interested in him. His family moved to Europe and Messi Lionel started to play in Barcelonas youth team. After two years playing there he was taken to the Barcelona B team. In 2004 he played for the first time in the senior team, he was only 17 years old. In 2005 he became a superstar of Argentine soccer. Lionel Messi was chosen as the player of the tournament at under-20 World Cup. In that year, he played his first game for the Argentine national team and made his first goal with the professional team FC Barcelona. He was a member of Argentina's 2006 World Cup team. He assisted Barcelona win an uncommon triple in 2009: the Copa Del Rey, Spain's Liga championship, and also the Champions League. Messi is compared to an earlier hero of Argentine soccer, Diego Armando Maradona.

By Sara Batista (4 ESO)