31 Most Influential Facts About Lionel Messi – Argentinian football Maestro

Lionel Messi has been turning heads for more than decade now with his incredible talent and revolutionary style. There is no doubt that Messi has his footprints in the hall of greatest footballers in the world. But his journey was not an easy one and here are some little known things about him that will once again prove him to be one of the best footballers in the world.

1. Messi is an Argentine national footballer who plays professionally for Spanish club FC Barcelona, is considered as one of the greatest player of all time and the world’s most marketable athletes according to ‘SportsPro.’
2. He joined Barcelona club at the age of 13 and has been playing his entire professional career with Barca, where he has won record 34 trophies, registering 629 goals in 737 appearances.
3. According to Forbes’ magazine, Messi is the highest-paid athlete in 2019 with $127 million, including $35 million in endorsements. He was the world’s highest paid footballer for five years out of six between 2009 and 2014.
4. Since July 2007, Messi has been in a relationship with girlfriend, Antonella Roccuzzo, the daughter of super market owner, though he has known her as cousin of Lucas Scaglia, his best friend since childhood. They married on June 30, 2017 and have three sons, Thiago, Mateo, and Ciro.
5. Over the course of his 17 long years as footballer of par excellence, he earned a record sixth ‘Ballon d’Or’ award on December 2, 2019, presented by France Football. On September 23, 2019, Messi won ‘The Best FIFA Men’s Player Award,’ for 2019, by garnering 46 rank points.
6. He was born Lionel Andres Messi Cuccittini, on June 24, 1987, in Rosario, Argentina. He is third of four children to Celia Cuccittini, a magnet manufacturing factory employee and Jorge Messi, a steel factory manager. He has two older brothers, Rodrigo, Matias and a younger sister, Maria Sol.
7. Encouraged by his maternal grandmother, Celia, Messi joined a local club, Grandoli, under Salvador Aparicio, at the age of four and later moved to ‘Newell’s Old Boys,’ youth side ‘The Machine of 87,’ where he spent six years scoring around 500 goals.
8. After he was diagnosed with growth hormone deficiencies, at the age of 10, his family was forced to send him to play with FC Barcelona Cadete team, due to high cost of treatment. The Catalanism club signed him up for £40,000 annually and the cost of treatment.
9. He became eligible to play for ‘Cadetes A’ team after he enrolled in Royal Spanish Football Federation in February 2002. He was the top scorer with 36 goals in 30 games in 2002-03 season.
10. Messi progressed quickly through the system playing for Cadete A, Juvenil A, Juvenil B, Barcelona C, Barcelona B, and then the first team, within the span of year and a half. He made his first team debut in a friendly against Porto, on November 16, 2003, as 75th minutes’ substitute.
11. At 17 years three months and 22 days old, he was the third youngest player to represent Barcelona in an official competition, when on October 16, 2004, he made his competitive debut in a friendly against Espanyol at Montjuic, as 82nd minute replacement.
12. On May 1, 2005, he became the youngest player to score a goal for the club, when he scored his first goal for senior team against Albacete Balombie and was part of ‘La Liga,’ winning team in 2004-05, after a gap of six years.
13. Messi signed his first professional contract on February 4, 2004, with a buyout clause of €30 million, which rose to €80 million in a months’ time as he made his progress in the football field. On signing his first senior professional contract on his 18th birthday, his buyout clause increased to €150 million.
14. Though he had dual citizenship, he preferred to represent Argentina over Spain and on June 29, 2004, he made his under-20 debut in Argentinean colors in a friendly against Paraguay, scoring a goal with two assists in 8-0 victory.
15. In 2005, he almost left his club, Barcelona, as Juventus wanted to get him on a loan, and Inter Milan wanted to buy him for his €150 million. But in the end he elected to stay with Barca.
16. At the ‘FIFA World Youth Championship,’ in 2005, he was awarded the ‘Golden Ball,’ as the best player of the tournament. He top scored with six goals to take Argentina to the title and with it the Diego Maradona comparison tag.
17. He made his senior side debut for his country on August 17, 2005, in a friendly against Hungary, only to be sent-off after two minutes for a perceived foul. He later played in the world cup qualifiers, before registering as the youngest Argentinean at a FIFA World Cup in 2006, in a match against Serbia and Montenegro.
18. As Barca’s new star at just 20 years, he became an idol of club’s supporters and was nicknamed ‘Messiah’ by the Spanish media. He signed a new contract in July 2008 on an annual salary of €7.8 million and in the process became the club’s highest paid player.
19. On December 1, 2009, the international panel of sports journalist awarded Messi, the ‘Ballon d’Or,’ for 2009, with record margin of 240 points and on 21st of that month he was named as the ‘FIFA World Player of the Year 2009,’ with a record points of 1073.
20. He scored 38 goals in 2008-09, 47 goals in 2009-10, 52 goals in 2010-11, and astonishing 73 goals in 2011-12 season with 29 assists. He went on to claim the ‘2011 FIFA Ballon d’Or,’ for the third time in succession and was also crowned the ‘UEFA Men’s Player of the Year.’
21. In 2011-12 season, Messi made a world record of 73 goals in a club season, surpassing Gerd Muller, previous record of 67 goals set in 1972-73 season.
22. On July 6, 2016, Messi and his father, Jorge Horacio, were found guilty on three counts of tax fraud and were handed suspended 21-month sentences. They were ordered to pay a fine of €1.7 million and €1.3 million respectively. They were accused of evading tax to the tune of €4.1 million.
23. Messi has helped Barcelona to the La Liga title on nine occasions and clinched the Copa del Ray trophy six times apart from the Champions League four times.
24. On March 2010, he was designated as ‘UNICEF,’ goodwill ambassador and has since campaigned to raise awareness of mortality rate among disadvantage children.
25. Apart from supporting access to health, care, education and sports for children through his ‘Leo Messi Foundation,’ Messi has invested in youth football in Argentina. He has also refurbished his boyhood club, Newell’s Old Boys, gymnasium and dormitory.
26. In November 2017, Messi signed a contract extension for a salary of over $80 million per year with a buyout clause of $835 m, making him the highest paid player on the planet. He also had endorsement deals with Gatorade, Huawei, MasterCard Pepsi apart from life time contract with ‘Adidas,’ which adds to another $35 m.
27. Messi struggled with hamstring injury in major part of 2013-14 season, before coming to his own in company of Luis Suarez and Neymar. The trio scored 122 goals in 2015, a Spanish record in all competitions with Messi contributing 58 of those.
28. He assumed his club captaincy and won his first title, ‘Supercopa de Espana,’ on August 12, 2018, under his leadership and went on end the league campaign with 36 goals, to win his sixth ‘European Golden Shoe,’ award.
29. On November 27, 2019, Messi in his 700th appearances for Barcelona, scored a goal in 3-1 win over Borussia Dortmund, in the Champions League, to register a record 34th team he had scored against in the competition.
30. His achievements include Olympic Gold Medal in 2008, record six European Golden Shoe award, All-time top scorer in the La Liga with 432 in 465 appearances, career 53 hat-tricks, nominated five times for the ‘Laureus World Sports Award for Sportsman of the Year and Guinness World Record as top goal scorer in 2012 calendar year with 91 goals.
31. Lionel Messi Net Worth: $400 Million