Lionel Messi: Early life

It is true that he is a mega star today. He is considered by some football experts as one of the greatest football stars of all times. However did you know that for Lionel Messi one of the best footballers of all times the initial years were not as smooth? We at Golden Goals through this blog try to give you an idea about the early life of this great Argentine footballer and how his stardom came about over the years that he played football. Let us first however begin by giving you a synopsis of his football career. 

A brief synopsis of the great footballer 

He was born on the 24th of June, 1987, in Rosario, Argentina. Messi then moved to Spain when he 13 years old. This was after when FC Barcelona club agreed to pay for hormone-deficiency treatments. Soon Messi became a star in his new country. He led his club to championships. Messi set a record for scoring maximum goals in the year 2012.In 2016, Messi was named Europe's Ballon d'Or winner for the fifth time.

How it all started? 

 As a young boy, he along with his two elder brothers played football with friends. Right from the beginning Messi was not intimidated by the bigger boys. At the very young age of 8, he was recruited to join the youth system of Newell's Old Boys, a Rosario-based club. He was comparatively smaller than most of the kids in his age group. The soccer superstar was eventually diagnosed by doctors as suffering from a hormone deficiency that restricted his growth.

His parents, decided on a regimen of nightly growth-hormone injections for their son. However it became d impossible to pay the huge amount of money involved for medication. So, at the age of 13, when Lionel Messi  was offered the chance to train at soccer powerhouse FC Barcelona's youth academy. This was called La Masia at the time. They also decided to pay for  his medical bills covered by . However his s family picked up and moved across the Atlantic. Thus Spain became a new home for them.

Football Superstar 

He often felt homesick in his new country. Messi moved quickly through the junior system ranks. By the age of 16, he had made his first appearance for Barcelona. He put himself in the record books on May 1, 2005.He was the youngest player to ever score a goal for the franchise. In 2005 itself year, he also led Argentina to the title in the under-20 World Cup. There he scored on a pair of penalty kicks to propel the team over Nigeria.

Messi eventually grew to 5 feet and 7 inches, and with his short stature, speed and relentless attacking style. Thus he drew comparisons to another famous Argentinean footballer: Diego Maradona. Messi thereafter steered Barcelona to many of successes. It was in  2009 though that he helped his  team capture the Champions League, La Liga, and Spanish Super Cup titles. In 2009 also  he took home his first FIFA "World Player of the Year" honor/Ballon d'Or award.

Author’s Bio: Goldengoals.com is an authentic website covering football related topics. Like Hindi news bulletins, the website covers ins and outs of major leagues and players as well.