Lionel Messi is an Argentine professional footballer who is the captain of the Argentina national team and plays forward for Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain. Messi has won a record seven Ballon d’Or awards and a record six European Golden Shoes. He was also named to the Ballon d’Or Dream Team in 2020.
He spent his entire professional career with Barcelona, where he won a club record 35 trophies, including 10 La Liga titles, 7 Copa del Rey titles and 4 UEFA Champions Leagues. He left the club in 2021.
Messi holds the records for most goals in La Liga (474), most goals in a season in La Liga and European competition (50), most hat-tricks in La Liga (36) and the UEFA Champions League (8), and most assists in La Liga (192), a La Liga season (21) and the Copa América (17).
He also holds the record for most goals scored by a South American man in international matches (95). Messi has scored more than 790 goals in his professional career for both his club and country. He also has the most goals for one club (672).
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Early years and education
Lionel Andrés Messi was born in Rosario, Santa Fe, Argentina on June 24, 1987. He was the third of four children born to Jorge Messi, who ran a steel mill, and Celia Cuccittiniwho worked in a magnet-making workshop.
On his father’s side, his great-grandparents came from the north-central Adriatic region of Marche in Italy and Catalonia. On his mother’s side, his ancestors are mostly Italian. Growing up in a close-knit football-obsessed family, “Leo” took an early interest in the sport and often played with his older brothers, Rodrigo and Matas, and his cousins, Maximilian and Emanuel Biancucchiwho both became professional footballers.
At the age of four, he joined the local team Grandoli, where he was taught by his father. However, the greatest influence on his development as a player was his maternal grandmother Celia, who accompanied him to training and matches.
He was very saddened by her death, which happened just before he turned 11. Since then, a devout Roman Catholic, he has celebrated his goals by looking up and pointing to the sky in tribute to his grandmother.
Messi has always been a fan of Newell’s Old Boys, and he joined the Rosario club when he was six years old. During the six years he played for Newell’s, he scored nearly 500 goals as a member of ‘The Machine of ’87’, the almost unbeatable youth team named after the year they were born.
He also entertained the crowd during half time of first team home games by doing tricks with the ball. But at the age of 10 he was told that he did not have enough growth hormone, which made it difficult for him to play professionally.
Because his father’s health insurance only paid for two years of growth hormone treatment, which cost at least $1,000 a month, Newell agreed to help, but later broke their promise. The River Plate club from Buenos Aireswhose playmaker Pablo Aimar he admired tried to sign him, but they would not pay for his treatment. Ronaldo was his goal-scoring hero as a child and Messi called him ‘the best striker I’ve ever seen’.
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Is Lionel Messi gay?
No, Lionel Messi is not gay and his sexual orientation is straight. Messi is dating Antonela Roccozzowho is also from Rosario, since 2008. He has known Roccuzzo since he was five years old because she is the cousin of his childhood best friend, Lucas Scaglia, who is also a footballer.
After secretly dating for a year, Messi confirmed their relationship in an interview in January 2009. A month later, at a carnival in Sitges after the Barcelona-Espanyol derby, they made their relationship public.
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Lionel Messi’s family
Messi and Roccuzzo have three sons. Thiago was born in 2012, Mateo in 2015 and Ciro in 2018. Messi put the ball under his shirt after scoring in Argentina’s 4-0 win over Ecuador on June 2, 2012. He did this to celebrate his partner’s first pregnancy. confirmed in an interview two weeks later. Thiago was born on November 2, 2012. He was born in Barcelona.
In April 2015, Messi said they would have a second child. He married Roccuzzo on June 30, 2017 at the Rosario, Argentina, Hotel City Center. In October 2017, his wife told him she was pregnant with their third child.
Messi has a deep bond with his immediate family, especially his mother Celia, whose face he has tattooed on his left shoulder. His career is largely run by his family. His father, Georgehas been his agent since he was 14 years old, and his oldest brother, Rodrigo, is in charge of his daily schedule and publicity.
In Rosario, his mother and other brothers, Matas, run the Leo Messi Foundation, which helps those in need, but also takes care of personal and business matters.
