The eternal dispute about Lionel Messi; is he or is he not the best soccer player of our time? Lionel Andrés Messi was born in Argentina in 1987. With many years of ahead he has surpassed the achievements and records of most of the legends in soccer history.
Messi began his career in 1995 in the CA Newell’s Old Boys, where he played until 2000. Then moved to Europe at age 13 with his family. Messi signed on a napkin and he became part of Barça. Since then, Messi had a spectacular progression through the different categories in record time. He debuted in the first team in 2003 in a friendly match against Porto. Messi was consolidated in the first team under excellent players like Ronaldinho and Deco da Souza. Later, with the arrival of Josep Guardiola, and other homegrown players like Xavi Hernandez, Carles Puyol and Andres Iniesta, Messi became the leader of one of the best soccer clubs of all time.
His debut in an official match came a year later in the 2004/2005 season. Messi became at that time, when he was just 16 years old, the youngest of all Barcelona team players in a First Division of the Spanish League game. Messi finished 2012 with a total of 91 official goals between Barcelona and the Argentina team, achieving a new world record.
He has already played two World Cups (2006 and 2010) and two Copa America (2007 and 2011). Messi has been honored with: 5 Ballon d’Or, 1 FIFA World Player, 3 Golden Boot, 1 World Cup Golden Ball, 3 Pichichi Nacional, 2 Golden Boy, 2 MVP Champions League and more. At the end of 2011 he was selected by TIME magazine as one of the 32 most popular personalities of the year and also became the only nominated athlete for Person of the Year.