His name is MESSI but he doesn't play MESSY (Leo Messi)

Member Name: babesmagnet

Product:	Leo Messi
Date:	07/03/09 (289 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: everything

Disadvantages: maybe a bit short

Hi, welcome to my review about, in my opinion, the most talented player on Earth Leo Messi. He currently plies his trade in the la liga with high-flying Barcelona and has become a talisman for the Catalonian club. He boasts many attributes like, scoring, passing, conducting the play assisting and dribbling past defenders, which reminds me a lot of Maradona. He also plays for the Argentinean national team, which is now coached by the famous Diego Maradona himself. As Messi is the focal point of his club and country, we may expect more from this amazing young talent as he is still 21 years of age. In this review I am going to tell you a lot of things like how he became runner up in the fifa world player of the year award ,his earlier career ,his professional career, some personal stats about him, his achievements in his career so far(even though at the age of 21 years) what we expect of him in the future and a lot more.

Personal stats

Lionel Messi was born on 24th of June 1987 in the small town of Rosario near Santa Fe Province in Argentina. He was born with argentine parents (both his mum and dad were Argentinean) so he did not qualify for any other nation apart from Argentina. His full name is Lionel Andrés Messi but is simply known as Leo .He is a midget compared to his age,21, as he measures more or less around 169 centimeters(1.69 meters) and is in the region of 5 ft 61⁄2 inches, this is because of the uncommon hormonal form. At a tender age of twelve Messi's parents discovered that their child had an uncommon hormonal form, which effectively held back his development as a man and threatened his development as the next priceless talent to materialise from the nation of Argentina.

Early career

Lionel Messi began playing the best sport in the world, football at the age of five. Messi started off playing youth team, which was Grandoli. In the summer of 1995 Messi swapped Grandoli for Newell's Old Boys. As Messi was banging in the goals for Newell's Old Boys, River Plate made their interest shown, but they did not reach an agreement with Messi's family and Newell's Old Boys all because of one reason; they did not have an adequate amount of money to pay for the rehabilitation of the disease, which summed up to a hefty $1500 a month which was around $750 every fortnight . The then sporting director of FC Barcelona Carles Rexach, became aware of Messi's as a dazzling talent ,even though he was still 13 years old, and with now hesitation mega rich Barcelona signed him after observing him play In addition offering to pay for all the remedial bills if he was willing to move to start a new life in Catalonia. His family moved to Catalonia but his dad was already working there and he got him self underway in the club's youth teams. Overlooking his five years at Newell's Old Boys it was very successful tucking away a lot of goals ,providing assists an creating a good atmosphere for the team .


his professional career with Barcelona 2004-now


After banging in the goals for his local club Newell's Old boys the goal scoring touch has still not been lost .Goals rapidly came to him with a ratio of more than one a game for Barcelona's B team (reserves). He was promoted to the senior team the following year by then coach/manager Frank Rikjaard and made his debut for Barcelona against FC Porto on 16th November 2003 as he was 16 years and 145 days old but that was in the champions league. Almost a year later, he made his official debut in the la liga against Espanyol on 16 October 2004 at a tender age of 17 years and 114 days. With that appearance against Espanyol he became the third youngest player ever to play for Catalonian giants with the blue and red strips .Furthermore Leo Messi became the youngest ever club player to ply his trade in the Spanish top flight . That record was broken On September 16, 2007 by team mate Bojan Krkić in at a tender age of 17 years and 19 days when Bojan made his official debut for FC Barcelona against CA Osasuna.

05-06 season


On 16 September, for the subsequent time in three months, the Catalonian club had announced that they had extended Lionel Messi's contract, this time the improved it by paying him just like any first team member, Barcelona extended his contract until June 2014 to stop the potential big clubs snooping around and what a deal it turned out to be for Barcelona.

Leo received the Spanish citizenship on 25th September 2005 and at long last was aloud to make his debut in the season's Spanish First Division. Beforehand he had been unqualified to play for the red and blue striped team because Barcelona had signed the maximum amount of non-EU players possible. Messi's first home outing in the UEFA Champions League came on 27 September against Italian club Udinese. He impressed with some great passing and he seemed to have psychic connection with the Brazilian wizard Ronaldinho (who now plays for AC Milan) a great reception, that may be worthy of him after that outstanding performance by the then rising star, from the 70,000-plus Camp Nou devoted fans.


Messi amassed six goals in just seventeen league appearances, which has quite a good ratio of a goal in every three games, and netted once in six appearances in the most breathtaking competition, the UEFA Champions League. Yet his season drew to a close too early as on the 7 March 2006 ,he experienced a muscle tear in his right thigh at some stage in the second leg of the second round in the Champions League tie against premier league champions Chelsea. To Messi's delight, Barcelona beat off the challenge of the los blancos (Real Madrid and their arch rivals) to finish the season off with the la liga crown. They didn't just win a title domestically they also won the European competition the UEFA Champions league against the then struggling Arsenal in the final. The beat them 2-1 thanks to a late come back with goals from Samuel Eto'o and the now Chelsea player Juliano Belletti after 10-man arsenal took the lead with the legendary arsenal player Sol Campbell who headed home after a excellent corner. Arsenal were down to 10 men when Jens Lehman the arsenal goalie got sent off. But I think Messi might have been a bit disappointed to not play his part in the final few matches of the la liga and the UEFA champions league.


06-07 season

Over and over again Messi performed at the very best he could and Messi was smashing in those goals and providing a lot of assists so as a result he was not beginning a lot of matches on the substitute bench anymore. However, as the year picked up the pace Messi Failed to successfully replace the superior injured goal-scoring machine Samuel Eto'o and really sloppy defending was threatening Barcelona defence to the la liga crown. But they found out how important messi was in their games against Chelsea and Real Madrid .

On 12 November 2006, during their match against Real Zaragoza, Messi sustained a broken metatarsal from tackles, ruling him out for 3 months. Messi carried out his recuperation in native Argentina. During this period t from the defenders (just like Wayne Rooney in EURO 2004 in Portugal and the 2006 FIFA world cup in Germany).As he was injured a whole host of bug guns asked about messi like Manchester United, Chelsea, AC Milan and if the rumours were Inter Milan were leading the race for him.

As Messi returned to action against Racing Santander on the 11 February 2007,he received a standing ovation by the Barcelona fans with continuous applause and cheers, , coming on as a second-half substitute. Rijkaard carefully played some excellent tactics to complete Messi's return. Every match he gradually added the amount of minutes for Messi to play playing minutes with each game.

After One month since he return against Racing Santander on the 11 February 2007, on 10th March 2007, he played his first full 90 minutes match since he got injured and who other than Real Madrid to be his full comeback opposition. Yet again, El Clásico viewers saw Messi in top form, this time single handedly bringing Barcelona back into the game scoring a hat-trick to earn 10-man Barcelona a 3-3 draw, after leveling the scores three times and the last goal arriving in stoppage/added time. After scoring that hatrick against the los blancos (the last one was amazing) he became the first player to score a hatrick in the el Clásico since Ivan Zamorano of Real Madrid who he played for in the 1994-95 season and the first Barcelona player to score in the match against Real Madrid since the legendary south American compatriot, the Brazilian Romario who played for Barcelona in the 1993-94 season) to hit a hat-trick in the El Clásico. Messi was also the youngest ever player to have scored in the Clásico. The game was marked a landmark by Messi not just breaking records he was playing better than ever talent. Messi also started scoring more than usual as he banged in 11 of his 14 la liga goals for the season in the last 13 games.

As Messi was dubbed as the new Maradona, he shocked the footballing world by living up to that tag. He scored two goals almost the same as Maradona's most famous goals in the space of a season. On 18 April 2007, he scored brace in the Copa Del Rey semi-final against Getafe CF, one of them reminded me of Maradona's famous goal against England at the 1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico, which is known as the Goal of the Century even though we say it's the best goal ever the very thought of it breaks my heart just watching highlights of the match I wonder what the English had to say after . The world's sports press exploded with Maradona comparisons, and the Spanish press labelled Messi as "Messidona". He ran about the same distance (62 m), beat the same number of players (six, including the goalkeeper), scored from a very similar position, and ran towards the corner flag just as Maradona did in Mexico 21 years before.

In a press conference after the game, Messi's team-mate Deco said: "There's no other like Leo." Against Espanyol Messi also scored with his hand in a goal remarkably similar to Maradona's goal against England in the world cup quarter-finals. Messi launched himself at the ball and connected with his hand to guide the ball past the goalkeeper Carlos Kameni. Despite protests by Espanyol players the goal was allowed and despite replays showing it was clear handball, Messi has never admitted the foul.


07-08 season

The midget Messi got off to a flying start to the 07-08 season (last season)as he scored five goals in 8 days guiding the Catalonian giants to the upper four in the Spanish league. His goal-scoring rout had begun when he had netted at the same time as Barcelona defeated eight times in a row champions and French giants Lyon 3-0 at home in a Champions League match. Then in a pivotal big match against Sevilla on 22nd September, He committed the brace he scored to the injured and the then under fire Brazilian wing wizard Ronaldinho and then on 26 September, Messi notched up another goal in a 4-1 victory over Real Zaragoza.


To no ones surprise, he had been designated for the FIFPro World XI Player Award. In the online edition of the Spanish newspaper, the Real Madrid biased Marca, they carried out a poll of who's the best player in the world, and Messi got a huge sum as he got a mouth dropping 77% of the votes. Other journalists from Barcelona-based and biased newspapers El Mundo Deportivo and Sport have a go at asking for the for the prestigious French award the Ballon d'Or to be given to Messi last year.

On the 4th March, the Barcelona medical staff ruled out Messi for six weeks after he sustained an injury when he suffered muscle tear in his left thigh at some point in the Champions League lat 16 match against Scottish giants Celtic. It was the fourth time in three seasons that the player suffered this type of injury and it was not the right time to end the season early as Barcelona missed out on the league and they didn't even finish second but 3rd! Moreover, all football fans sorely missed Messi.


Messi's 100th Official Match For Barça

On 27 February, Messi played in his 100th official match for FC Barcelona in the Copa del ray first leg match against the Spanish and fellow league giants Valencia where he played outstandingly but could not get on the score sheet and Barcelona would have lost if it was not for Xavi Hernandez stoppage time goal after David Villa put Valencia in the lead with an amazing goal and Barcelona got the result they deserved.


08-09 Season

After Brazilian talisman Ronaldinho was sold to AC Milan, Leo pounced on the chance to take Ronaldinho's number 10 jersey (which belonged to many of Barça's legends) and he certainly did. On 1st October 2008 ,while playing a match in the UEFA Champions League match against Ukrainian champions Shakhtar Donetsk, Super sub Messi (who was subbed for Highbury legend Thierry Henry) netted twice in the last seven minutes of play, to change the score from a disastrous 0-1 to 2-1. The following league match was against Atletico Madrid, a match as outstanding as a friendly battle between Leo and good friend Sergio Agüero. In what proved to be a cracker of a match ,Messi scored a goal from a free kick and assisted another as Barcelona went on to win the match 6-1. Messi scored yet another brace against Sevilla ,the second in 2 seasons) scoring a delicate dipping volley and after being played in by Xavi and then going round the goalie and slotting home from a tricky angle to double his tally. On 13th December 2008, playing in the first el Clásico of the 08-09 season, Leo netted the final goal in the historic Barcelona's 2-0 win over Real Madrid. He was named second in the 2008 FIFA World Player of the Year awards with 678 points.

His international career

How he burst on to the international scene


In the middle of the summer in the month June in 2004, he had his first taste of international football in blue and white of Argentina, getting a run out in Argentina's under-20 friendly match against fellow South Americans Paraguay.

Again, he stared in the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship in Amerstadam, Holland, as he was part of the team that won the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship. In Amerstadam he beat off the contest of a lot of players to become the best player of the tournament and became top-scorer. In addition to that he scored a lot of goals and assisted a lot including a fantastic assist for his friend Sergio Agüero.


His big chance came as on the 4th August 2005, the then Argentinean national coach José Pekerman called Messi up to the senior Argentine national team but he blew it because on the 17th August 2005, He made his senior team debut against Hungary. He came on in the 63rd minute, but he saw red as soon as he saw the pitch after just 40 seconds because the referee found he had elbowed defender Vilmos Vanczák, who was tugging Messi's shirt, which(in my opinion) definitely deserved his marching orders. However, other people thought the referee Markus Merk he decision was controversial even legendry argentine Maradona claimed the decision to send him off was deliberate. Messi re- débuted and received his first ever international start on 3rd September 2005 in Argentina's 0-1 World Cup qualifier away loss against Paraguay.

FIFA World Cup 2006


The injury on the 7th March 2006, he experienced against second leg of the second round in the Champions League tie against former premier league champions Chelsea, kept him from playing for two months at the end of the 2005-06 season jeopardised his presence in the FIFA World Cup in Germany. Even so, Messi was selected in the Argentina squad for the tournament on 15 May 2006. He also played in the farewell match against the Argentinian U-20 team for fifteen minutes and a friendly against Angola from the 64th minute. He was spectator from the bench in Argentina's first match of the group stages in victory against Ivory Coast. In the following match against Serbia and Montenegro, Leo Messi became the youngest player to play for Argentina at a World Cup when he came on as a substitute for Atletico Madrid star Maxi Rodriguez in the 74th minute. He had an immediate impact on the game as he assisted Hernán Crespo's goal within minutes of entering the game and also scored the final goal in the 6-0 victory, that made him the youngest ever player to score in Germany 2006 and the fifth youngest goalscorer in World Cup history. After an emphatic performance against Serbia , Messi was rewarded with his first start Argentina's following 0-0 tie against Holland. In the following match against Mexico, Messi again came on as a substitute in the 84th minute, with the scores level at 1-1. He seemed to have scored a goal, but was ruled offside in a dubious decision, Argentina needed an extra time winner to proceed and it came from an amazing curling Maxi Rodriguez shot. Coach José Pekerman controversially decided to keep Messi on the bench throughout match against hosts Germany which turned out to be the quarter-finals. Argentina lost 4-2 on penalties and Leo, who was really sad and sulky throughout the game, turned down the chance to speak to reporters in the aftermath of the game.

Copa America 2007
He was the youngest player in the tournament When Copa América began. Messi made his debut in the Copa America on 29 June 2007, when Argentina defeated USA 4-1 in the first game of the tournament. In the game against USA, Messi showed his playmaking capabilities by setting up a goal for fellow striker Hernán Crespo and had numerous shots on target. Now Manchester united player 'Carlitos' Tevez came on as a substitute for Messi in the 79th minute and scored minutes later.


In his second game against Colombia in he went down for a penalty that Crespo converted coolly to draw the game at 1-1. He also played part in Argentina's second goal as he was fouled outside the box, which allowed the Argentinian playmaker Juan Roman Riquelme to score from a free kick, and increase Argentina's lead to 3-1. The final score of the game was a resounding 4-2 victory in Argentina's favour and it granted them a spot in the tournament's quarterfinals.
In the third game and final group stage match against Paraguay, the coach rested Messi having already qualified for the quarter finals. He came off the bench instead of Esteban Cambiasso the inter player, in the 64th minute, with 0-0. In the 79th minute he created a goal for Liverpool mad dog Javier Mascherano.

In the quarterfinals, as Argentina had to play against Peru with the likes of former premier league stars nobby solano and Claudio pizzaro , Riquelme made an excellent pass to Messi and the he scored the second goal for Argentina, which sealed to the semi-finals after a 4-0 win.


During the semi-final match against Mexico which is a re match of the fifa world cup 2006, Messi scored a exquisite chip over Oswaldo Sanchez to see Argentina through to the Final.
In the final against the almighty Brazilians ,Argentina went on to lose to Brazil in a moral crushing 3-0 defeat with the 'giant' baptista, ayala scoring an own goal and it was wrapped up with a dani alves goal, and Messi won the Young Player of the Tournament award.

2008 Summer Olympics
After being banned by Barcelona for playing for his country in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Messi joined up with the Argentinian squad against his clubs will, and it was a decisive decision as he scored the first goal of the tournament for his team in a 2-1 victory over Ivory Coast. He then scored the opening goal and assisted in the second to help his side to a 2-1 extra-time win against Holland. He over performed and gave his all in Argentina's match against rivals and south American heavyweights Brazil, in which Argentina ripped brazil to pieces in a 3-0 victory which was nice revenge for messi since they lost the Copa América by the same score line, so they went through to the final. In the gold medal match, Messi assisted Angel Di María for the only goal ,and it was delightful in a 1-0 Argentine victory over Nigeria. Messi returned to Barcelona In satisfaction as he won a gold medal.

conclusion

I think at the moment messi is the best player in the world even better than cristiano ronaldo who scored 42 goals last season. How much would I rate him 10.25/10. He is just an amazing player and if I had Manchester city's money at the moment, he would be the first one on my shopping list way ahead of even kaka and Buffon. I am sure that everyone will agree with me and he was worth every penny that Barcelona paid for him especially since he's still not in his prime.

Thanks for reading

also posted on ciao under the same user name

Babesmagnet...........................February... ....................2009

Summary: he should be the future player of the year