Talent and Hard work has been some of the required factors for success in life.But this become valuable only when opportunity presents itself. Thats the case with Messi.

Lionel Messi was born on June 24, 1987 in Rosario, Argentina. He is approximately 170 cm tall and 67 kg. At the moment he is a 21-year-old midfielder playing as number 10 for the Spanish La Liga football club, FC Barcelona. Lionel Messi has already become one of the best players in the world and is already being compared to the Argentine legend, Diego Maradona, even at his young age.

Lionel Messi is known to others as having a very unusual way of playing. He is very imaginative when he plays on the pitch and he will take on a defender no matter what he’s up against. Even though young Lionel is short, it doesn’t stop him from playing, because as some may be big and strong, Messi is small and agile, allowing him to change his speed very quickly. Most people may also think that, as a little guy, he probably doesn’t have the most powerful shot. Not true, because he not only has a hard shot, but he also has great accuracy, which is a good thing in a situation like a free kick or a corner kick. Messi is very outspoken, but at the same time cautious when he should be, because he is determined to play to the best of his abilities without letting up.

Lionel Andrés Messi started his compelling career in 1995 when he was only eight years old for the Newell’s Old Boys. But by the time he turned 11, he was diagnosed with a growth hormone deficiency, which is a medical condition where the body does not allow enough growth and cell reproduction and therefore does not allow a person to grow as much as he could. Most people may have thought that this was going to stop him from playing soccer because he would be too small and other players would easily knock him off the ball. But of course they were wrong. Messi didn’t care what other people said or did. As long as he was proving his talent and determination, that’s all that mattered. This all paid off when he made his debut in La Liga in the 2004-05 season. This was when he broke the La Liga record for the youngest footballer to play a league game and the youngest to score a league goal. That was not the only unbelievable achievement little Messi achieved. Messi and his team also won La Liga in his debut year. But it didn’t stop there, because the following year Messi and Barcelona won La Liga yet again and they captured the 2006 UEFA Champions League.

Sourced from: http://myhero.com/hero.asp?hero=L_messi_jjbowlen_CA_09

Messi is arguably the best player in the world,having broken many world records and winning consecutive FIFA Ballon d’Or,he is one of the worlds highest goal scorers.

Messi started playing football as a boy and in 1995 joined the youth team of Newell’s Old Boys (a Rosario-based top-division football club). Messi’s phenomenal skills garnered the attention of prestigious clubs on both sides of the Atlantic. At age 13 Messi and his family relocated to Barcelona, and he began playing for FC Barcelona’s under-14 team. He scored 21 goals in 14 games for the junior team, and he quickly graduated through the higher-level teams until at age 16 he was given his informal debut with FC Barcelona in a friendly match.

In the 2004–05 season Messi, then 17, became the youngest official player and goal scorer in the Spanish La Liga (the country’s highest division of football). Though only 5 feet 7 inches (1.7 metres) tall and weighing 148 pounds (67 kg), he was strong, well-balanced, and versatile on the field. Naturally left-footed, quick, and precise in control of the ball, Messi was a keen pass distributor and could readily thread his way through packed defenses. In 2005 he was granted Spanish citizenship, an honour greeted with mixed feelings by the fiercely Catalan supporters of Barcelona. The next year Messi and Barcelona won the Champions League (the European club championship) title.

Messi’s play continued to rapidly improve over the years, and by 2008 he was one of the most dominant players in the world, finishing second to Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo in the voting for the 2008 FIFA World Player of the Year. In early 2009 Messi capped off a spectacular 2008–09 season by helping FC Barcelona capture the club’s first “treble” (winning three major European club titles in one season): the team won the La Liga championship, the Copa del Rey (Spain’s major domestic cup), and the Champions League title. He scored 38 goals in 51 matches during that season, and he bested Ronaldo in the balloting for FIFA World Player of the Year honours by a record margin. During the 2009–10 season Messi scored 34 goals in domestic games as Barcelona repeated as La Liga champions. He earned the Golden Shoe award as Europe’s leading scorer, and he was named the 2010 world player of the year (the award was renamed the FIFA Ballon d’Or that year).

Messi led Barcelona to La Liga and Champions League titles the following season, which helped him capture an unprecedented third consecutive world player of the year award. In March 2012 he netted his 233rd goal for Barcelona, becoming the club’s all-time leading scorer in La Liga play when only 24 years old. He finished Barcelona’s 2011–12 season (which included another Copa del Rey win) with 73 goals in all competitions, breaking Gerd Müller’s 39-year-old record for single-season goals in a major European football league. His landmark season led to his being named the 2012 world player of the year, which made Messi the first player to win the honour four times. His 46 La Liga goals in 2012–13 led the league, and Barcelona captured another domestic top-division championship that season. In 2014 he set the overall Barcelona goal record when he scored his 370th goal as a member of the team. That same year he also broke the career scoring records for play in both the Champions League (with 72 goals) and La Liga (with 253 goals). Messi helped Barcelona capture another treble during the 2014–15 season, leading the team with 43 goals scored over the course of the campaign, which resulted in his fifth world player of the year honour. He scored 41 goals across all competitions for Barcelona in 2015–16, and the club won the La Liga title and the Copa del Rey during that season.

Sourced from: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Lionel-Messi