"The Goal Machine"
Finally I completed one more biography of an extraordinary sportsperson,
phenomenal footballer yet very humble, shy and down to earth “Flea: Lionel
Andrés Messi” by Luca Caioli. Born on 24th-June-1987 at Rosario,
Argentina. He loves to play football since childhood and his grandmother always
supported and inspired “Flea” to go and live his dreams. But the path was not
easy for Leo as he was diagnosed with a growth hormone deficiency, at the age
of 11. His growth was very slow as compare to normal kids. At the age of 11 he looks like an 8 year old kid.
Here the change started for “Messi”. The local club was not
able to bear the expenses for Messi’s growth hormone deficiency though they
were aware of the extraordinary skills this footballer possessed who was just a kid. This was the time when
things changed for Messi. Barcelona Club was also aware of the skills of this
kid and they agree to bear the cost of all treatments for Messi and offered him
to come to their city and play football for them. Messi sacrified and left his family and country with his "Dad". Journey started which no one have ever dreamed of.
Struggles were not yet ended, Messi didn’t get direct entry to
the club team as he was not having a citizenship for the new country. He started
playing with the low grade junior teams (B, C) and showed his skills with football to
the spectators, club officials and senior players who were all shocked to see the
skills this kid is having unbelievable. Still it took approx. 4 to 5 year for this kid to
make his entry in Barcelona Club team. Since then till now he have studded the team
with many title which without “Flea: Messi” was not possible. There are no step backs for Barcelona since 2004 since Messi joined the club. For Messi “Football
is his world”.
“I feel sorry for those who want to compete for Messi's
throne — it’s impossible, this kid is unique.”—
Former Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola.
He got full support from his team mates, coaches (speciallt Pep) and club.
He is the top goal scorer for Barcelona. Once he's on a run with the ball he's
unstoppable. The balls sticks to his shoes like a Glue. He dodge the ball so
well that even the best players in the world have no answers to his exceptional
skills. His bonding with fellow mates is simply superb “Xavi, iniesta, Messi :
The three dangerous Barcelona Missiles”
Messi is the first football player in history to win four
FIFA/Ballons d'Or, all of which he won consecutively, and the first to win
three European Golden Shoe awards.
“For the world of football, he [Messi] is a treasure because
he is a role model for children around the world. In the space of half a metre,
he can move right or left - it is like he has the ball attached to his body.
Maradona was also a little bit like this, and it could be because they are both
low centre of gravity.”
—Dutch legend Johan Cruyff after Messi set a new goal-scoring
record for Barcelona, March 2012.
His career path with Barcelona is well written in Gloden words in
“football history” and the counter will continue for many more years.
But his career with Argentina was not started so well, he always struggled to
show “Messi Magic” in the matches he played for his country because of the lack
of the coordination, more focus of players on individual targets, wrong position in
the field etc etc. This kid didn’t give up, he keep tried and changed the model of
Argentina team all of his own. Now the team is having better coordination, team
first mission and better understanding between players, proper planning on the field – the last FIFA is the
example of that “though the Final was not went in favor of the team”.
“I have seen the player who will inherit my place in
Argentinian football and his name is Messi.”
— Diego Maradona
The views of friends, managers, players and people about “Flea”
is – after getting so much success and money, this guy is still very simple,
shy, down to earth, cry in dressing room when he don’t score goals, dedicated,
football lover as he is still a kid. What else would you expect from a person
who is so famous yet so humble. Respect!!...
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