Over the years, his actions have shown the same character as that of Maradona, who himself declared this talented footballer as his successor. BeIN Sports: Messi habría rechazado el MVP del torneo"[BeIN Sports: Messi reportedly rejects MVP award for tournament] (in Spanish). Only 43 seconds after coming on in the second half against Hungary, the 18-year-old Messi saw the red card for elbowing a rival in his neck while running towards the goal. In a country where everyone thought that no one would ever come close to Diego Maradona, a relatively unknown teenager raised in Barcelona eventually proved them wrong. We may learn from Lionel Messi's life how someone can achieve success by conquering the challenges in his path with willpower and talent.

During his playing career he shattered many world records and currently holds the records for most goals scored in La Liga, a La Liga season (50), a calendar year (91), a single season (73), and a Champions League match (5), among several others. Every time I start a year, I start with the objective of trying to achieve everything, without comparing it to how I’ve done in other seasons.Though the expectations in the French capital were through the roof, Messi struggled in his first season at the Parc des Princes. On top of that, Barca ended up securing the first sextuple in soccer history: Champions League, LaLiga, Copa del Rey, FIFA Club World Cup, UEFA Super Cup, and Spanish Super Cup. Messi's father encouraged him to attend a local football training club at the age of just five after noticing the young player's ability so that he could learn the game well and develop into a massive football star. The decision was contentious and not in keeping with Messi’s style of play which is generally clean and in the spirit of fair play; he has very rarely been accused of diving. He was the second best assist provider in La Liga that season with 16 assists, after Mesut Ozil, who managed 17.

As the Messi family had relatives in Catalonia, they sought to arrange a trial with Barcelona in September 2000.

After his senior debut in August 2005, Messi became the youngest Argentine to play and score in a FIFA World Cup ( 2006), and reached the final of the 2007 Copa América, where he was named young player of the tournament. After being named player of the tournament in four international pre-season competitions with the Juveniles B, he played only one official match with the team before being promoted to the Juveniles A, where he scored 18 goals in 11 league games. Which was one of the main reasons for Messi winning the Ballon dO'r for the record 7th time and counting. This shyness is a recurring theme, with Guardian journalist Jonathan Wilson claiming that Messi used to change in the hallway at La Masia rather than having to enter the changing rooms. Messi extended his lead over Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo, who has the second-most Ballon d’Or trophies with five.

International glory continued to elude Messi in the 2015 Copa America, when his side lost to Chile in the final. He turned down the offer because he was unsure if he would be playing in major European championships and the difficulties in moving to Russia. He was first linked with Macarena Lemos, a female from his hometown Rosario, whom Messi was introduced to by the former’s father while he was recovering from his injury before the 2006 World Cup.The first training session we had with Leo, I was playing a bit more of a defensive midfielder and we were doing this one-against-one exercise," he says. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License and the GFDL; additional terms may apply. Messi made his league debut during the next match on 16 October, against Espanyol at Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys in Montjuïc, coming on in the 82nd minute. Graduating quickly through the club’s ranks thanks to his ever-growing skill set Messi made his first senior appearance for the club at the age of 17.