A dream come true | Lionel Messi

Lionel Messi was born on 24^th June 1987 in Rosario Santa Fe Growing up in a tight-knit, football-loving family, “Leo” developed a passion for the sport from an early age, playing constantly with his older brothers, Rodrigo and Matías, and his cousins, Maximiliano and Emanuel Biancucchi, both of whom became professional footballers. At the age of four he joined local club Grandoli, where he was coached by his father, though his earliest influence as a player came from his maternal grandmother, Celia, who accompanied him to training and matches. He was greatly affected by her death, shortly before his eleventh birthday; since then, as a devout Roman Catholic, he has celebrated his goals by looking up and pointing to the sky in tribute to his grandmother. A lifelong supporter of Newell’s Old Boys, Messi joined the Rosario club when he was six years old. During the six years he played for Newell’s, he scored almost 500 goals as a member of “The Machine of ’87”, the near-unbeatable youth side named for the year of their birth, and regularly entertained crowds by performing ball tricks during half-time of the first team’s home games. However, his future as a professional player was threatened when, aged 10, he was diagnosed with a growth hormone deficiency. As his father’s health insurance covered only two years of growth hormone treatment, which cost at least $1,000 per month, Newell’s agreed to contribute, but later reneged on their promise. He was scouted by Buenos Aires club River Plate, whose playmaker, Pablo Aimar, he idolised, but they declined to pay for his treatment. His goalscoring idol growing up was Ronaldo, with Messi calling him “the best forward I’ve ever seen”.On 13^th July 2014, Match between Germany Argentina was a big disappointment for the Argentina team. Lionel Messi had an opportunity to score when he was one-on-one with Neuer shortly after half time, but his low shot went wide of the goal As they lost the cup to Germany. It was a big shock for him the match end with 1-0. And after 8 years lionel messi and his team has lifted the world cup it was a big come back for the team after the disappointing 2014 fifa world cup finals with a penalty score of 4 -2 in which one of the penalty goal was did by Lionel Messi himself. It was a great victory for them and it was a befitting reply for his fans for losing the cup for Germany for the 2014 world cup finals.

By Ganesh Samir, BBA 2nd Year

Triumph College UAE