Lionel Messi is widely regarded as the world’s best player. His story of success is a testament to the fact that talent and hard work are more important than family background and wealth. Messi has achieved great things, rising from the ashes at the most difficult times – when his health was unstable, when he was in financial difficulty, when he faced all kinds of rejection. He found a passion that lit up the dark path where all ambitions and dreams had faded away….
Lionel Andrés Messi Cuccittini (Lionel Messi) was born and raised in Rosario, Argentina. He was raised in a family passionate about football. His father, Jorge Messi, first worked as a worker in a steel factory, then became a manager, and his mother, Celia María Cuccittini, worked as a janitor.
Has courage since childhood
Since he was a child, Messi has been passionate about football and was supported by his family. When he was just 4 years old, he joined a team called Grandoli, coached by his father. On the field, Messi could quickly take the ball from the opposing team and keep it with him for 15 minutes, no opponent could take the ball from his feet. He played so well that everyone thought that he would become a great football player in the future. Messi also believed in himself, he soon set a goal to become a great football player, honored by many people.
Salvador Aparicio was Messi’s first coach in Argentina. He shared that when Messi was a boy, he used to score 6 to 7 goals in every match, even when the opponent was older than him. When Messi was 6 years old, he joined the Atlético Newell’s Old Boys football club (Newell’s Old Boys) based in Rosario, although he was the same age, he was still much smaller than the other members of the team. He was the shortest member of the team, but this could not stop him from becoming the best member. Thanks to his talent, his reputation spread far and wide, many football clubs began to pay attention to him.
Broken Dreams
Everything was going well until he was 10 years old, an endocrinologist – Dr. Diego Schwarzstein diagnosed Messi with growth hormone deficiency and this conclusion extinguished all his ambitions. Growth Hormone Deficiency Syndrome is a rare medical condition that prevents the patient from growing taller due to a lack of growth hormone. During the treatment, his parents injected additional doses of hormones into his calves every night, and later, he learned how to inject himself. His father could only afford to maintain the treatment for 2 years, after which he was helpless because the treatment cost was too expensive, costing at least $1,000 a month. Messi never stopped playing football even when he had to combine treatment. This shows us a bit of his passion for the ball.
The football club he played for – Newell’s Old Boys refused to pay for his treatment. Another team – Atlético River Plate (River Plate) also paid attention to him but also refused to sponsor his treatment, so he had no chance of joining the team. Fortunately, Charly Rexach – captain of FC Barcelona – had an eye on Messi and wanted to organize a match to test his skills. FC Barcelona is a professional football team based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, and the team was in the process of recruiting talent at that time.
Losing the most loved one
Since his childhood, Messi had a close relationship with his grandmother – Celia, who used to accompany him to training sessions or to every match he participated in. He was extremely sad after her death, he stopped practicing for several weeks. But later, he became more determined to walk on his own path, he was full of life, he longed to make his grandmother in the afterlife smile proudly when seeing him master the football field. Charly was extremely impressed by Messi’s talent and skills, so on December 14, 2000, Charly and Messi signed an official cooperation contract on a napkin, because he could not find any other paper for himself. And so, the first contract between Messi and FC Barcelona was established.
His father was very excited, he wished his son could become a talented football player, and the time had come when he could no longer afford his treatment. FC Barcelona promised to cover all the costs during Messi’s treatment, his parents also had great faith in him, when the treatment ended, he would be qualified to become a golden striker.
A new beginning
In February 2001, Messi and his family moved to Barcelona. This marked the first turning point in the life of the 13-year-old Messi. However, at that time, Messi encountered some problems, because of some rules related to foreign players, Messi was not allowed to play football in the first year. Fortunately, in 2002, Messi was recruited into the Royal Spanish Football Federation, he was able to freely run on the field again.
At that time, Messi was only about 1m70 tall, much shorter than the other players on the team. Because he was so short, the team members were extremely surprised by Messi’s presence. All their doubts were immediately dispelled when they saw with their own eyes how he dominated the field. Messi already knew that his height was a disadvantage, he practiced playing football a lot to make up for this shortcoming.
Great achievement
August 17, 2005 was the second milestone marking his debut in the international competition environment, through a friendly match against the Hungarian team. Also in this year, Messi became the youngest player to represent Barcelona in an official match, the first 17-year-old player to score a legendary goal for the Barcelona team. His talent soon became more prominent than other players at Barcelona’s home stadium. Thanks to Messi’s wonderful performances, Argentina won the U-20 World Cup, held in the Netherlands. Because Messi was the most talented player in this tournament, he scored the most goals (6 successful shots into the goal), he was honored to receive the Golden Ball and Golden Shoe awards. In 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2015, he consecutively won the Player of the Year award.
In 2012, Messi set a new Guinness World Record for the most goals scored in a calendar year – 91 – breaking the previous record of 85 set by Gerd Müller (recorded in 1972). Over the course of his career, Messi has scored over 500 goals – making him the most prolific scorer in history. He is the only player to have won the European Golden Boot six times. He has spent his entire life at Barcelona. FC Barcelona has become one of the world’s leading football teams thanks to Messi’s contributions.
In 2016, in the final match of the Copa América football championship, Messi missed the chance to win from a penalty kick, causing Argentina to lose. As captain, this defeat disappointed him immensely, this was the fourth time Argentina had been eliminated from the final round. That defeat made Messi decide to take off his shirt number, withdrawing from international football. However, on August 12, 2016, he decided to return to the national team, in front of the enthusiastic cheers of fans – they ran a campaign calling for his return to the field, raising the slogan “Don’t give up, Leo!”. Once again, Messi took the captaincy, commanding the Argentina national football team to participate in the World Cup (2018) held in Russia.
