Lionel Messi

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/jun/16/li ()

Lionel Andres Messi was born on the day of June 24th, 1987 in Rosario, Argentina. He is a professional soccer player for Barcelona and plays a forward position. His number for the team is 10. He has always used this number ever since he was just a little boy. Messi is 5 feet 6 1/2 inches tall. He has played for three teams since he was at a young age. The first club he was with was the Newell's Old Boys Youth soccer club from 1995-2000. He then went on to play for Barcelona a few years later in 2003. He is still a member of the Barcelona men's team to this day. Playing for Barcelona will be his senior career. Messi plays for one last team, the Argentina Men's National team where he will be playing until he decides that it is time for him to retire.

http://online.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704 ()

At a young age Messi would always run around with his two older brothers and play soccer with their friends. He didn't care that they were bigger and older than him. Messi always loved the competition of playing against older boys. As he kept up with playing with his brothers and friends, he was being looked at by many youth clubs. He was recruited at the age of 8 to join the youth system of Newell's Old Boys, a Rosario-based club. Messi was diagnosed by doctors suffering a hormone deficiency that restricted him from growth. At the age of thirteen Messi was offered the chance to train at soccer powerhouse FC Barcelona's youth academy, and have all of his medical bills be paid for by the owner of Barcelona's club himself. After this was offered his family picked up and moved across the Atlantic to make a new home in Spain. Messi and his family were very honored for the offer that they had given him.

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His career was started at a very young age when he was diagnosed with a growth defect. The club FC Barcelona had told him and his family that they would pay for all of his medical bills and treatments because it started getting too expensive for his parents. He is now a star athlete for FC Barcelona. He is a leading scorer for the club and has led his team to many championships up to his present years playing. In 2012 he set a record for most goals scored in a calendar year, and afterward was named FIFA's "player of the year" a record fourth time. Messi has done a lot of good things in his soccer career that he is now well-known for. Many people look up to him because of all of the things that he has accomplished during his time playing. With being brought into such a good profession at such a young age, he has shown many people that things can go good for you if you put in the effort to achieve the goals that you are working for.

He has contributed a lot to health and animation of the past several years. He has won four awards for his contributions to these things. He even has his own foundation to help people out. Messi had an impact on the world by the way that he puts forth all of his effort just for his team to do their best. He has done a lot with his foundation on health and animation. Messi is a very competitive guy when it comes to the game of soccer. He always tries to find a positive in every outcome, even if it's something negative that happens.

Messi is important to me because he shows me how to put my best work into the game of soccer even if I want to quit. He shows me that it is never a good thing for you to give up in the game you love because you can always find a way to work through it.
"I made sacrifices by leaving Argentina, leaving my family to start a new life. I changed my friends, my people. Everything. But everything I did, I did for football, to achieve my dream." -Lionel Messi.
"Whether it's a friendly match, or for points, or a final, or any game - I play the same. I'm always trying to be my best, first for my team, for myself, for the fans, and to try and win." -Lionel Messi