Lionel Messi (born 24 June 1987) is an Argentine football player. He plays for Barcelona and the Argentina national team. Lionel Andrés "Leo" Messi (Spanish pronunciation: [ljoˈnel anˈdɾes ˈmesi]; born 24 June 1987) is an Argentine footballer. He plays for FC Barcelona and the Argentina national team as a forward or winger. He also holds Spanish citizenship. So he can play as a EU player. He is one of the best football players of his generation. Many people say that he is the world's best contemporary player. Messi received several Ballon d'Or and FIFA World Player of the Year by the age of 22. His playing style and ability have similarity to Diego Maradona.
Messi began football at a young age and his potential was quickly identified by Barcelona. He left Newell's Old Boys's youth team in 2000 and moved with his family to Europe. It's because Barcelona offered treatment for his growth hormone deficiency. He debut in the 2004–05 season, and he broke his team record for the youngest footballer to scoring a goal. Barcelona won La Liga in Messi's debut season, and won a double of the league and Champions League in 2006. His breakthrough season was in the 2006–07 season; he became a first team regular, scoring a hat-trick in El Clásico. He scored 14 goals in 26 league games. Perhaps his most successful season was the 2008–09 season. In this season, Messi scored 38 goals. In the following 2009–10 season, Messi scored 47 goals in all games. That equalls to Ronaldo's record total for Barcelona. He is on the cover of both PES 2010 and PES 2011
CLUB CAREER STATISTICS
| Club performance | League | Cup | Continental | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Club | League | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| Spain | League | Copa del Rey | Europe | Total | ||||||
| 2004/05 | Barcelona | La Liga | 7 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 1 |
| 2005/06 | 17 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 25 | 8 | ||
| 2006/07 | 26 | 14 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 36 | 17 | ||
| 2007/08 | 28 | 10 | 3 | 0 | 9 | 6 | 40 | 16 | ||
| 2008/09 | 31 | 23 | 8 | 6 | 12 | 9 | 51 | 38 | ||
| 2009/10 | 35 | 34 | 3 | 1 | 11 | 8 | 49 | 43 | ||
| 2010/11 | 33 | 31 | 7 | 7 | 13 | 12 | 49 | 43 | ||
| Country | Spain | 177 | 119 | 26 | 17 | 57 | 37 | 260 | 173 | |
| Total | 177 | 119 | 26 | 17 | 57 | 37 | 260 | 173 | ||
INTERNATIONAL CAREER STATISTICS
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Argentina U20 | 2005 | 7 | 6 |
| Argentina U23 | 2008 | 5 | 2 |
| Argentina | 2005 | 5 | 0 |
| 2006 | 7 | 2 | |
| 2007 | 13 | 6 | |
| 2008 | 8 | 2 | |
| 2009 | 10 | 3 | |
| 2010 | 10 | 2 | |
| 2011 | 13 | 4 | |
| Total A | 66 | 19 | |
