SPORT

SPORT

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Lionel Andres Messi Cuccittini He is an Argentine footballer, plays as a striker for Paris Saint-Germain in the French League and captains the Argentine national team. Between 2000 and 2021, he was the most prominent player in Barcelona, ​​until the club's management announced on August 5, 2021 the departure of its star after his contract could not be renewed. On August 8, 2021 a farewell press conference was held at the club.

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Messi was born on June 24, 1987, south of Rosario, in the province of "Santa Fe", Argentina, to Jorge Horacio Messi (born 1958), a factory worker, and Celia Maria Cuccittini, a cleaner, and his father's family is of Italian descent, specifically To Ancona, from which his grandfather, Angelo Messi, immigrated in 1883. He has two older brothers, Rodrigo and Matias, as well as a sister, Maria Sol. At the age of five, Messi started playing football for a local club coached by his father Jorge called Grandoli. In 1995, Messi moved to Newell's Old Boys in his home city of Rosario. Discovered at the age of eleven that he was suffering from a lack of growth hormones, River Plate showed their desire to include Messi, but their management lacked enough money to pay for his treatment costs, which amounted to $900 per month. Messi attracted the attention of Barcelona sporting director Carlos Rexach, who heard of his talent through a call from Messi's relatives in Lleida, Catalonia. They offered Messi's family to move to Spain in exchange for his medical expenses. Based on this, the family moved to Europe and Messi started playing in the club's youth teams

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Born and raised in central Argentina, Messi moved to Spain to join Barcelona at the age of 13, making his league debut when he was 17 in October 2004. He established himself as a key player for the club over the next three years, and in his first season as a starter in 2008–09 Helped Barcelona achieve their first hat-trick in Spanish football. That year, at the age of 22, Messi won his first Ballon d'Or. Three successful seasons followed, with Messi winning four consecutive Golden Balls, making him the first player to win the award four times in a row. During the 2011–12 season, he set the Spanish and European League records for the most goals in a single season, while establishing himself as Barcelona's top scorer in history.

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In the following two seasons, Messi finished second in the Ballon d'Or award behind Cristiano Ronaldo (his first rival), before regaining his best level during the 2014–15 season, becoming the historic Spanish League top scorer and leading Barcelona to another historic treble, after which he won the Golden Ball award The fifth in 2015. Messi took over the captaincy of Barcelona in 2018, and in 2019 he won the sixth Ballon d'Or

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Often considered the best player in the world and considered by many to be one of the greatest players in football history, Messi has won six Ballon d'Or awards and is the record holder for six European Golden Shoes. He spent his entire professional career with Barcelona, ​​winning 35 titles with the club, including ten La Liga titles, four Champions League titles, and seven Copa del Rey titles. Messi is a top scorer and creative playmaker, and holds the records for the most goals in La Liga (474), the most scored player in a La Liga season and any other European league (50), More than scored a hat-trick in the Spanish League (36) and the Champions League (8),

​more than assisted assists in the Spanish League (192), and more than assisted assists in the Spanish League and any other European League (21) and more than assisted assists in Copa America (17). He has scored more than 750 official goals for club and country, which is more than one club's record.