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When come across the word ‘Messi’, our brain inevitably starts a slideshow in front of our eyes which depicts a man weaving his magic on the ball and breezing through the defence of any opposition to score immaculate goals. This man may not be the tallest footballer around but his stature in the world of football is higher than anyone else.

The popularity of one Lionel Messi can also be gauged from the fact that for many of us the word football and Messi are synonyms. He has been mesmerising billions of his fans all across the globe with bag full of tricks on the field, relentless attacking style of football, inch perfect passing, ability to create half chances into fabulous goals and the spirit to put personal interests behind team interests.

Owing to these qualities and more, Messi has reached a legendary status in the game of football and is unsurprisingly compared to another legend of the game, Diego Maradona, who himself declared the man as his successor.

The career of this great footballer has not been paved on smooth roads. Born in Rosario, Santa Fe Province, to parents Jorge Horácio Messi and Celia María Cuccittini, Leo Messi was diagnosed with a growth hormone deficiency at the age of eleven. Due to dearth of resources to meet the necessary expenses for his treatment, Messi’s family had to move down to Spain wherein FC Barcelona’s director offered help after being acquainted with his unreal talent.

Messi started his stint as a footballer with FC Barcelona’s junior teams and quickly moved up the ranks to become one of the youngest players to feature in La Liga. He never looked back ever since and has scored more than 350 goals for his club! Messi also plays an integral and pivotal role as the football captain of Argentina and has scored over 40 goals for his country.

Apart from scoring a plethora of goals at different levels, Messi’s incredible talent has also earned him a room full of awards and accolades. This FC Barcelona frontline player has won a record four FIFA Ballon d’Or awards, three European Golden Boot Awards and 2008 Olympic Gold Medal. He also led Argentina to the finals of the FIFA World Cup 2014 and was adjudged player of the tournament, winning the Golden Ball Award. Messi has also won 21 team trophies at the club level.

Many people around the globe feel that nobody can hold a candle to Messi and he is the greatest player of this era. There are others, however, who believe Cristiano Ronaldo gives Messi a run for his money and even tops him. In terms of sheer number of records, both these players have crossed the 400 goal mark for their respective clubs and countries combined and have regularly won many prestigious awards.

On the personal front though, Ronaldo is perceived as brash character while Messi has always been a humble and shy individual. All in all, both these players are exceptionally talented and will go down as two of football’s all-time greats.

While the gap between Messi and Ronaldo has narrowed after the later moved to Spain, it’s Lionel Messi who is the best player on the face of this planet and in the opinion of some people - the best player ever!

 

Kelly Jules is a sports blogger who primarily writes about the game of Golf and shares her views about other games like soccer, cricket and tennis via different platforms. Visit her blog to read knowledgeable posts.

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