It can be said that Lionel Messi is the best
professional soccer player in the world. Messi has gained an overwhelming
amount of success since he first initiated his career with FC Barcelona. Just
by watching him play one can see why it is argued that Barcelona’s number 10 is
considered the best in the world. It is also constantly being argued whether
Lionel Messi is the best player ever to play professional soccer.
Lionel Andres Messi Cuccittini was born on June 24, 1987 in Rosario,
Santa Fe, Argentina. At the age of 11 Messi was diagnosed with a growth hormone
deficiency, and his parents were forced to pay $900 a month for his treatment.
Luckily, Messi’s outstanding ability to play soccer soon developed the
attention of FC Barcelona’s sporting director. It was later decided that Messi
would move with his family to Spain in order to play for the club that would
pay for his medical expenses. At such a young age Lionel Messi was noticed by
one of the best soccer clubs on the planet.
After moving to Spain with his family, Messi first began
to play with the youth team of the club. From there he progressed his way up
until he got to the top of the club. Messi debuted with FC Barcelona on
November 13, 2003 in a match against FC Porto. Ever since that first game
success has been piling up for this skillful soccer player. He has won
countless awards including the ballon d’Or (awarded to the best player in the
world) ,
which he has already won four times and was also given the FIFA World Player of
the Year award. He has also broken countless records with his tremendous
ability to score goals. Messi has already surpassed Pele’s (a Brazilian Legend)
number of career goals. He is also constantly being compared to Maradona,
another extremely talented Argentinian who has said that Messi is in fact the
best player in the world.
Despite the importance of his debut with his club team,
the debut of Messi’s national team is also very important. Since he has been
living in Spain for most of his life now, Messi was given the opportunity to
represent Spain, but he chose to play for Argentina. He played his first
international game on August 17, 2005 versus Hungary. At this point Messi was
only 18 years old. He has also accompanied Argentina during three World Cups
(2006, 2010, and 2014) and the Olympic Games. Today, Messi is the captain of
his country’s professional soccer team.
In the
2014 World Cup Messi led Argentina all the way to the final. Unfortunately,
Germany defeated Argentina 1-0. Even though Argentina did not win, Messi was
still awarded the Golden Ball Award at the conclusion of the World Cup. He had
also been nominated for the Golden Ball Award during the 2006 World Cup.
Today, after signing his seventh contract, Messi makes
about $64.7 million per year. According to CBS Baltimore Messi is in the top
five of the most paid athletes. Despite the fact that Messi does so much for
his team, it seems that he is an under-paid player. Compared to Cristiano
Ronaldo (one of the best players in the world) Messi makes less money and
probably does more for his team. This comparison of Lionel Messi and Cristiano
Ronaldo has also caused a great deal of debates to occur. Overall I would say
that Messi has a greater capacity of scoring goals and being a team
player.
No comments:
Post a Comment