Lionel Andrés Messi (born 24 June 1987 in Rosario, Santa Fe Province, Argentina) is an Argentine footballer who plays for Spanish La Liga club FC Barcelona and the Argentina national team. He has drawn comparisons to Diego Maradona, and Maradona himself named Messi his "successor"
At the age of five, Messi started playing football for Grandoli. In 1995, Messi switched to Newell's Old Boys. At the age of 11, he was diagnosed with a growth hormone deficiency.River Plate showed interest in Messi's progress, but did not have enough money to pay for the treatment of the illness that cost $1500 a month.
On 16 September, for the second time in three months, Barcelona announced an update to Messi's contract - this time improved to pay him as a first team member and extended till June 2014. Messi obtained Spanish citizenship on 25 September and was finally able to make his début in the season's Spanish First Division. He had previously been unable to play because FC Barcelona had filled their quota of non-EU players. 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 a seemingly telepathic relationship with Ronaldinho that earned him a standing ovation from the 70,000-odd Nou Camp faithful
With Ronaldinho's departure from the club, Messi inherited his number 10 jersey. On 1 October 2008 during a Champions League match against Shakhtar Donetsk, Messi scored two goals during the last seven minutes after coming on as a substitute for Thierry Henry, to turn the score from 0-1 to a victory for FC Barcelona 2-1. The next league game was versus Atletico Madrid, a match billed as a friendly battle between Lionel and good friend Sergio Agüero. Messi scored a goal from a free kick and assisted another as FC Barcelona went on to win the match 6-1. Messi netted another impressive brace against Sevilla scoring a spectacular dipping volley after being played through by Xavi and then rounding the keeper and slotting home from a tight angle to double his tally. On 13 December 2008, during the first Clásico of the season, Messi scored the second goal in Barcelona's 2-0 win over Real Madrid. He was named second in the FIFA World Player 2009 award with 678 pts.
