And now Lionel Messi is the best footballer in the world, playing for Barcelona at number 10.

How did a boy from a poor family with a congenital illness that required expensive treatment overcome all difficulties on the way to becoming the five-time title of the best football player in the world? Read more about Leo Messi's path to success in our material.

Childhood and family

Lionel started playing football at the age of 5. His father worked part-time as a coach at the local football club Grandoli, but it was his grandmother, the only family member who believed in his success in football, who first brought Lionel to classes. Many years have passed, Messi has become the greatest football player, and to this day, after every goal he scores, he raises his hands in honor of his grandmother, who left this world when he was 10 years old.

At the age of 8, Lionel began playing for the Newell's Old Boys professional football club and soon became team captain. In 1997, Leo and the club won the Peruvian Friendship Cup. During one of the NOB matches, scouts from FC River Plate noticed him, and the young footballer began playing for two clubs at the same time. The terrible news destroyed the boy's dreams of a football career. At the age of 11, he was diagnosed with a deficiency of somatotropin, a growth hormone. Annual treatment would cost 11 thousand dollars, which neither the management of River Plate nor, especially, Messi's parents could afford.

Leo’s father realized that the only chance was to take his son to a tryout in Barcelona (the club had previously shown interest in the gifted athlete). Football agent Horacio Gaggioli came to the rescue and took the boy to Spain. Horacio himself recalled that when he first saw Lionel, he did not believe in his success: “He was too skinny and small, but when I saw him in training at Barcelona, ​​I changed my mind. I realized that he would grow up to be a great player."

On October 3, 2000, Barcelona sporting director Carles Rexach saw little Messi in action and immediately offered him a contract. There was no paper at hand, and Carles scribbled the text of the agreement on a napkin.

The club paid for Lionel's treatment and transported his family to Spain. Messi joined the Barcelona youth team and began training at the La Masia football academy. At that time, Juventus coach Fabio Capello offered Barcelona to buy Messi for a lucrative sum, but he was refused.

Messi's height is 169 centimeters, but if he had not managed to get to Barcelona and receive the necessary injections, according to doctors' forecasts, he would hardly have overcome the 140-centimeter bar.

Football career

Messi's first official match was Barcelona - Espanyol (October 16, 2004). At the Spanish Championship, 17-year-old Lionel, who came on as a substitute, scored his first goal in the “adult” team of FC Albacete. In September 2005 he received Spanish citizenship.

He made his debut in the Champions League on December 7 of the same year. The match with the Ukrainian Shakhtar was lost in favor of the Ukrainians 0:2. He scored his first goal in the Champions League in a match against Panathinaikos FC (November 2, 2005). He was unable to take part in the final match of the League due to injury. In December of the same year, he was awarded the title “Golden Boy” as the best young player under 21.

Messi beat Ronaldo

In 2005, Messi made his debut for the Argentina national team. He will never forget this match against Hungary: after 47 minutes he received a red card, ran to the locker room and burst into tears.

At the 2006 Spanish Championship, Lionel, with his famous hat-trick, finished the match in a 3:3 draw and received 3rd place in the Golden Ball and 2nd place in the FIFA Diamond Ball, beating Cristiano Ronaldo.

The matches of the 2007/08 season for Barcelona were unsuccessful, Messi's numerous injuries did not allow him to play at full strength, and the team took 3rd place, but still made it to the semi-finals of the Champions League. In the same year, Leo participated in the Olympic Games in Beijing as part of the Argentina national team. The Barcelona football club did not want to let go of its top scorer for a long time, and only after a conversation with head coach Guardiola did the club agree to let Messi go. Argentina took first place.

The beginning of the 2008/09 season was marked by a change of number for Lionel: after the departure of Ronaldinho, Messi changed his number 19 to his “ten”. Lionel also won the Ballon d'Or as the best player in Europe.

At the beginning of the 2009/10 season, he signed a new contract with Barcelona, ​​valid until 2016 with a release amount of 250 million euros. The start of the season was successful: the team won the UEFA Super Cup and the Spanish Super Cup. On December 21, 2009, Messi received the title of Best Player in the World. And in the same year, the team, with the help of top scorer Lionel, won 6 titles.

On January 16, 2010, in the match between Barcelona and Sevilla, Messi scored his 100th goal. At such an early age - 22 years old - no one has ever managed to achieve such high results. On April 6, at the 1/4 finals of the Champions League, Leo, who scored 4 goals, was recognized as the top scorer.

At the World Cup, Messi played in the Argentina national team against the Nigerian national team, the match ended with a score of 1:0 in favor of the Argentines. Lionel had many opportunities to score goals, but Nigerian goalkeeper Vincente Enyeama saved the team time after time.

At the match with Greece, Messi entered the field as the youngest captain in the history of the Argentina national team; the match ended in favor of the Argentines 2:0. Leo played well, was recognized as the best player, but did not earn points according to the “goal+pass” system, and at the end of the group tournament, Messi was recognized as a “useless” player for the team, because he did not realize a large number of successful chances in the game, plus showed a lack goals and assists.

In the quarter finals, the Argentina national team lost to the German national team 4:0, but despite the defeat, Messi was still nominated for the FIFA Ballon d'Or.

In 2011, the match between Barcelona and Sevilla ended with a score of 1:3. To get the cup, the team needed to score two goals per match, but they managed to do that, winning the trophy for the 9th time, largely thanks to Messi’s famous hat-trick. In the fourth round of the League against Copenhagen, a goal scored by Leo made Barcelona the new record scorer in the history of the EuroCup.

On January 10, 2011, Messi won the Golden Ball as the best football player in the World and became the fifth football player in history to win the most prestigious award in world football for 2 years in a row.

On 28 May 2011, Barcelona won the Champions League and Messi was again named man of the match.

In the new 2011/12 season, Barça won the Spanish Super Cup, the match took place in Madrid with the famous rival Real Madrid, but ended in a 2:2 draw. In the return match, the Catalans won 3:2 thanks to a goal scored by Messi. It was his 200th professional league goal.

On August 25, journalists from ESF member countries, through a draw, determined the winners of the League tournament in Monaco: 39 votes were given to Lionel Messi, now the best player in Europe. And on August 26, Barcelona won the UEFA Super Cup.

At the 2011/12 Spanish Championship, in the Barcelona - Osasuna match, Messi scored a hat-trick, as a result of which Barça won with a score of 8:0. The second hat-trick was scored against the Atlético Madrid team on September 24.

On December 24, 2011, the French publication Equipe recognized the Argentine football player as the best athlete in the world. Lionel scored 807 points, ahead of tennis player Novak Djokovic and Formula 1 race car driver Sebastian Vettel. Newspaper editorials reported that Messi is the first football player since 1998 to win this category.

In March 2012, in the Barcelona - Granada match, scoring 3 goals, Leo set a record for scoring all official Barca matches. In total, Messi already scored 234 goals. On April 24, 2012, in the match between Barcelona and Chelsea, Leo missed a penalty, and after two matches with a score of 2:3, the team did not qualify for the final and thus dropped out of the fight for the Champions Cup.

But already at the end of April, Barcelona defeated the Madrid FC Rayo Vallecano with a stunning score of 7:0. In this match, Messi scored two goals and two assists. At the end of the championship, Lionel became the top scorer: he scored 50 goals, thereby beating Real Madrid leader Cristiano Ronaldo. In February 2012, in a match with the Swiss national team, Messi again scored his famous hat-trick, which led to the victory of the Argentina national team with a score of 3:1.

The following season, Messi scored the 300th goal of his career with Barcelona on October 27 against Rayo Vallecano. And at the end of 2012, he was recognized as the best footballer of the year by World Soccer magazine, beating Cristiano Ronaldo and Andres Iniesta. A month later in Zurich, Lionel Messi became a four-time winner of the Ballon d'Or award for the fourth year in a row. On February 7, 2013, the footballer extended his contract with Barcelona until June 2018.

At the end of 2013, he lost the title of best player of the year to Cristiano Ronaldo, and at the beginning of the next year he took only second place in the fight for the Ballon d'Or. But in March 2014, in the 28th round of the Spanish Championship, he scored a hat-trick, bringing his goal tally for the Catalans to 371. Thus, Messi became the top scorer in the history of Barcelona in all tournaments.

At the 2014 World Cup, the Argentina national team performed successfully and reached the final, where they lost to the German national team with a score of 0:1. In the 2014 World Cup, Messi played seven matches in which he scored four goals. He was recognized as the best player of the World Cup.

In 2014, Spanish director Alexa de la Iglesia made an hour and a half documentary about Messi, in which he detailed the story of his success. The tape includes many videos from the football player’s archive.

Problems with law

In 2016, Jorge and Lionel were sentenced to a year and 9 months in prison. However, the legislation allowed them to get away with fines: Messi Jr. paid 2 million euros, his father – 1 million.

Personal life of Lionel Messi

Then he briefly dated Argentine Playboy model Luciana Salazar, Miss Poland Anna Werber, and Argentine model Claudia Ciardone.

In 2009, Lionel was spotted at the Sightges carnival with a petite dark-haired girl. She stood out from the row of curvy blondes who were used to seeing next to Messi. In one of the interviews, the football player confirmed the seriousness of his intentions: “I have a girlfriend, and she lives in Argentina, and I am happy with her.” Lionel Messi with his son

In addition, Messi has a tattoo with a portrait of his grandmother on his back (the athlete’s very first tattoo), on his shin there is the number “10” and a dagger, on his arm is Jesus in the crown of thorns, and on his elbow is a stained glass window of one of the churches of his hometown.

On June 31, 2017, Messi and Antonella formalized their relationship. The wedding of the Barcelona football player and his childhood friend took place in a hotel in Rosario. The ceremony was attended by 260 guests and 157 press representatives.

The newlyweds insisted that instead of gifts, the guests transfer money to the account of the Techo charitable foundation. In honor of the wedding, they got paired tattoos on their fingers - the date of their wedding, written in Roman numerals.

For their honeymoon, the couple went to the island of Anigua, although only for a week.

Messi's wedding dance was criticized online.

Messi dancing at a wedding

And soon after the wedding it became known that Messi would become a dad again.

In addition to his football activities, Messi takes part in the social life of the planet, Lionel is an international goodwill ambassador for the UNICEF organization. In January 2013, the famous football player donated 152 thousand euros for the reconstruction of a sports center in his hometown of Rosario.

At various times, Messi was the face of the video games Pro Evolution Soccer, Adidas, MasterCard, Xbox, McDonald's, Danone, Pepsi, Lays and many other lesser-known brands.

Lionel Messi now

In November of the same year, Messi came to Moscow as part of the Argentina national team. The national teams of Argentina and Russia met in a friendly match. Messi spent a whole week in the capital, to the delight of dozens of brave fans who took selfies with the world football star. The week turned out to be difficult, and not only because of the huge number of people wanting to take photos - on the fifth day of the visit, during training, snow began to fall over the stadium.

Topics of the material

Fans learn about the life of the star children of the famous football player Lionel Messi from his Instagram page. He regularly posts photographs of his large family, which includes three sons and his wife Antonella Roccuzzo. The interest of the press and fans is understandable, because Messi is one of the most famous players of Barcelona, ​​which nurtured and developed his talent.

The Argentinean successfully defends his country on the world stage; he has been captain of the national team since 2005. The beauty of the goals he scores, the precision with which he hits the goal, and the virtuoso technique are appreciated. He is the owner of five Golden Balls, and the number of personal and team awards approaches one hundred. And all this in a short career: on June 24 he will celebrate his 31st birthday.

But he calls the best event that happened in his life not recognition as a football player, but fatherhood. The team players even have an unspoken competition for the title of the best father. They know how to demonstrate not only high quality play, but also love for their children. And Leo in many ways became an example for them.

Thiago Messi

His firstborn's name is tattooed on his left leg. Messi is left-handed, and it is with this that he scores goals, the number of which has exceeded 600. There are also two children’s hands hugging his father’s leg. Thiago’s mother also has a tattoo with the child’s name on her palm.

Thiago will turn six this year. He is the eldest of Messi's three sons, who is already accustomed to taking care of little ones. His parents trust him to hold their youngest, Ciro, who is only a month old. And he can easily handle the average Mateo: he can play, take a walk, and calm him down.

From the first days of his life, Thiago has been one of the most popular kids in the world of football. He and his mom and dad never leave the covers of sports and glamor magazines. Despite the fact that there are no scandals in the Messi family, reporters are happy to “hunt” for him, selling the positive image of his father and husband no worse than the adventures of some Hollywood stars.

Did Leo manage to change the attitude towards family among football stars? It’s unlikely that he had such a goal, but his colleagues also like to show their good side. It is even customary to hug your children and wives after the match, many of whom are the most devoted fans.

Leo first took to the field with Thiago in 2013 after the final game of the Champions League. The one-year-old baby shared the victory with his father, sitting in his arms, and even allowed his dad to use the pacifier. The frame has spread all over the world's publications, and there are a large number of such touching photographs.

Leo will always say a few words about children in interviews. From him we know that the eldest loves cars and motorcycles more than football, because he gets tired quickly when playing.

But more often the news comes from Instagram. Family photos are immediately scattered across online publications, where they love to discuss what parents dress their children in, who is the craziest father and whose wife is the most stylish. Barcelona fans generally organize competitions for the cutest baby players. Recently, they couldn’t decide which of the sons, Messi or Pique, to give this title to. Friends, football players, do not pay any attention to this: their personal lives are revealed exactly as much as they themselves have measured out. They don't care about the rest.

Lionel, for example, posts the kids’ successes on Instagram. He showed Thiago's first steps, his first birthday, the goal he scored and the personalized Catalan T-shirt that the kid wore when he was two years old. The family generally loves to dress in the family look style, imitating the head. If Leo is wearing a “red and blue” T-shirt, then his wife and Thiago are wearing them too. All three also have Argentina national team gear with the inscription “papa” and the famous number 10. But in everyday life, everyone prefers red tones in clothes, even Thiago often wears a red checkered shirt.

He already has his own page on Instagram and more than 140 thousand subscribers. Naturally, it was organized by her fans. But they publish unique photographs that none of the parents have. The baby himself is unlikely to know about its existence, but soon he will also have to experience the burden of fame under which his family lives.

By the way, it was Thiago who turned out to be the one who beautifully and tenderly spoke about Antonella’s third pregnancy, kissing her on the stomach. Leo posted this shot on Instagram and addressed the unborn baby with the words: Thiago, mom and dad are waiting for you.

Mateo Messi

Leo was in the maternity hospital on the baby's birthday, having missed the morning training session on the eve of the national championship match. In general, 2015 brought Leo many successes, including his fifth Ballon d'Or. The second son was named Mateo, his name is emblazoned on the football player’s shoulder, and his mother got a tattoo on her second palm.

In February, Leo showed how the baby had grown; he posted a video on Instagram. It shows a boy watching a cartoon and repeating the movements shown by the cartoon characters. He also loves watching football. Messi spoke about this in an interview, noting that his sons have different characters. Mateo received an unpleasant description from his father: “brat.” But this was said with undisguised tenderness - the boy is growing up as an active and nimble child.

My father attributes his interest in football at such a young age to genes. He hopes that Mateo will follow in his footsteps and become a successful player.

Ciro Messi

While waiting for the birth of his third son, Messi missed the match with the Spanish Malaga, which took place on March 10 this year. On this day, a photo of a newborn’s little hand holding his father’s finger and an inscription appeared on his Instagram that everything went perfectly, everyone was very happy.

Leo recently admitted that the baby had deprived him of his traditional siesta, and he was ready to run away to get ready for his homeland. And so it happened - Messi went to Argentina to prepare for the 2018 World Cup. It was he who brought the winning goal to his team, brought it to third place in the tournament, which ensured its entry into the world championship. He said that it was a dream not only for the team, but for the entire country.

The first game of the national team will be held on June 16 in Moscow, but before that time Messi will have time to visit his family - his talisman and tuning fork, which sets him up for all the important games.

Every week HELLO.RU talks about what celebrity children wear. Last time we got acquainted with the style of Alexei Chadov and Agnia Ditkovskite - Fedor, and today the hero of our column is the youngest son of one of the best football players on the planet - Barcelona striker Lionel Messi - and his common-law wife Antonella Roccuzzo - Mateo.

On September 11, 2015, Lionel Messi became a father for the second time: his common-law wife Antonella Roccuzzo gave birth to a son in one of the Spanish clinics. The baby was born on National Day of Catalonia, which especially pleased Barcelona fans. True, some difficulties arose with the boy's name: initially the local press reported that Messi and Roccuzzo named their son Benjamin, but later the official Barcelona website denied these rumors, reporting the boy's correct name - Mateo.

Pregnant Antonella Roccuzzo with her son Thiago
Antonella Roccuzzo and Mateo

Due to the birth of his son, Messi missed Barcelona's training session before the match of the 3rd round of the Spanish Championship against Atlético Madrid. Catalan head coach Luis Enrique allowed Leo not to attend the lesson, but the forward still had to go to the match itself. Roccuzzo supported her lover by posting on Instagram the first photo of Mateo - or rather, his little hand:

Welcome to this world, son! How happy we were that you were with us at that moment, Leo!

In honor of Mateo's birth, Leo and Antonella decorated their bodies with tattoos of their son's name: Messi inked the inscription "Mateo" on his shoulder, and Roccuzzo on his palm. The couple did the same when they were born. firstborn Thiago: Thiago’s mom got a tattoo with her son’s name on her palm, and dad decorated his left leg, which had hit the opponent’s goal so many times, with a tattoo of two children’s hands and the inscription Thiago.

Antonella Roccuzzo and MateoMateo Messi
Mateo Messi

The first picture of Mateo, in which you can see the boy’s face, was published on Christmas Day by Lionel himself. In the photo, titled "My Superheroes," Mateo and Thiago are wearing suits with the well-known "S" logo. How else can children dress, whose father is a real Superman of his business?

In Mateo’s wardrobe, as well as his brother’s, there are many things with “superhero” symbols. From childhood, boys are encouraged to win, but they probably prefer to enjoy the victories of their outstanding father. In addition to Supermen, Mateo's overalls, T-shirts and sweatshirts are decorated with other bright prints - for example, images of Disney characters, animals, cars and other characters beloved by all boys. This variety of prints also includes original inscriptions: for example, one of Mateo’s bodysuits is decorated with the inscription “50 percent from mom + 50 percent from dad = 100 percent ideal.”

Mateo Messi
Lionel Messi with sons Mateo and Thiago



Lionel Messi and Antonella Roccuzzo with sons Mateo and Thiago

For now, the basis of Mateo’s wardrobe consists of things in pastel shades - soft blue, beige, gray. But recently, parents have increasingly begun to dress their son in brighter clothes: for example, in one of the family photos, Mateo poses while wearing a garnet-colored cardigan - one of the favorite colors of Barcelona fans. Perhaps one day we will see Mateo in the jersey of an official player of the Catalan club, but until that moment the baby still has to grow and grow. It's only begining!

To enjoy the family idyll of the Messi family, click on the photo to view the gallery.

Lionel Messi is one of the greatest players in modern football and the best footballer of all time. His tenacity, as well as his unique ability to overcome opponents' defenses, will forever remain in the memory of millions of fans of the game. Many titles and titles have been assigned to him, but Messi himself claims that individual awards are in second place for him, the main thing is the success of the team.

Childhood and youth

The future football player was born on June 24, 1987 in the Argentine city of Rosario. He grew up with two older brothers, Matias and Rodrigo, and a sister, Maria Sol. Jorge Horacio, Lionel's father, worked at a local metallurgical plant and coached a youth football team in his spare time, while his mother, Celia Maria, worked in the service industry.

The grandmother was involved in raising the young talent. She brought little Lionel to the amateur club Grandoli when he was 5 years old and convinced the whole family that the boy would grow into a talented football player, firmly declaring that the child had a gift that other children did not have. In the future, he will not forget the support of his beloved grandmother Celia, dedicating all the goals he scored to her alone.

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