Football stories | Lionel Messi

Lionel Messi’s path towards big football matches hasn’t also been easy. The Argentinian is considered as the best football player in the world at the moment. But, it is very interesting to see how Messi has become the player, who he is now.

To begin with, the roots of Lionel Messi are Italian. His great-grandfather, Angelo Messi, has emigrated from the city of Ancona in 1883. However, Lionel was born on 24th June 1987 in one of the biggest cities in Argentina – Rosario. The father of Lionel – Jorge has been a simple worker, while Messi’ mother has been a cleaner. Both, his parents, had to work a lot, because they had 3 more children.

Jorge Messi has combined his work in the factory with coaching the amateur football team of Grandoli. Exactly there, Lionel Messi started his career at the age of 4. When Leo turned 6, he joined the academy of Newell’s Old Boys. He spent 6 years in the academy of the Argentinian club and scored about 500 goals for the youth formations of the team, which were called “The Machine of ‘87”. Jorge Messi helped his son a lot with his development as a player. He encouraged his son to practice a lot and he used to drive about 60 km. a day, to drive Lionel to the training ground.

Lionel has been forbidden by his parents to miss football practices. But, his mother has often told him that he could miss school classes, when he has needed to sleep more, in order to be prepared better for the football trainings.

And here came the real difficulties for Lionel and his family. At the age of 11 he has been excluded from Newell’s Old Boys’ academy, because he has been diagnosed with a rare disease. Lionel had a lack of the growth hormone and his team has refused to pay him for the medical treatment. Messi has been with an extremely small height, that’s why the doctors have tested him. The injections cost about $900 per month, because he had to take them every night. His father had to work at 3 different places to earn enough money for his family and Lionel’s injections, in particular. Without these injections, Lionel Messi may have only reached 140 cm. height and could never become the player he is now! Well, he is now about 170 cm.

The family had to move in Barcelona. And one of the life-changing events in Messi’s life happened exactly there. The first contract of Messi with Barcelona has been written on a napkin! It has happened on 14th December 2000 at a restaurant in Barcelona. The father of the player – Jorge has been pushing for an immediate contract for the 13-year-old Lionel. So, the scout of the club – Carles Rexach took a piece of paper from the waiter and wrote the first Lionel Messi’s contract on it. He wrote what salary will Messi receive. In addition, he promised that the club will pay for the medical treatment of the young talent. However, this piece of paper was only the offer, while the contract was, actually, signed on a napkin. Currently, this napkin is framed.

Rexach took a big risk with the signing of Lionel Messi, because there were lots of people in the club, who didn’t want the player! But, Lionel was so talented, that Rexach couldn’t miss the opportunity to take such a player in the club.

Then, Lionel was a part of Barcelona’s academy until 2004, when on 16th October, he made his debut for the team in La Liga, in front of more than 34,000 spectators in the match against Espanyol. The youngster came on with 8 minutes to go. He was at the age of 17 years 3 months and 22 days. After that moment, you all know what happened to Lionel Messi!