7 Things you didn't know about Lionel Messi
Stefan Bienkowski, Football Whispers
4 Yrs Ago
Lionel Messi is one of the most recognisable men on the face of the planet, but aside from his countless goals for FC Barcelona and Argentina there’s probably quite a lot most soccer fans don’t know about the star.
As Messi begins yet another dazzling campaign with Barcelona, we bring you seven fast facts, personal and professional, on one of the best players to have ever played the game.
Almost a Spaniard
Outside of Barcelona Messi is most recognisable in the white and light blue of Argentina. However, before he was a confirmed Argentinian international the star-to-be could have ended up playing for Spain.
The forward has grandparents from Catalonia and, prior to the Argentinian Football Federation planning specific friendlies just to call up the youngster, was being courted by the Spanish Football Federation after former Barcelona director, Carles Rexach, alerted them to his heritage.
A grandmother’s love
Messi routinely cites his grandmother as one of his greatest influences on his life as she used to routinely accompany him to matches and training sessions as a child. Unfortunately, she passed away when he was just ten, but the Barcelona forward remembers her every time he scores by pointing to the heavens in tribute.
"I am doing this because I dedicate my goals to my grandmother. She took to me to football but now she can't see how far I have come,” Messi said in 2010.
A goalscorer from day one
We all know how often Messi scores for Barcelona, but long before he first set foot on Spanish soil the pint-sized forward had already established himself as a goalscoring phenomenon.
At his boyhood club, Newell’s Old Boys, Messi was part of a special youth side called "The Machine of '87" that proved to be near-unbeatable. During his six years there, the special talent from Rosario scored almost 500 goals and it quickly became clear he was destined for the very top of the game.
A note on a napkin
After a trial at Barcelona in 2000 the club’s first team director, Rexach, wanted to sign the 13-year-old immediately but, at the time, it was almost unheard of to bring a player from South America to Europe at such a young age.
The club’s board hesitated but, when an ultimatum was forced on Barça, Rexach acted quickly by writing a contract on the nearest piece of paper he could find. That piece of paper happened to be a paper napkin and is now a framed piece of history.
Revolutionary Rosario
We all know Messi is from Argentina and some may even know that he’s from Rosario, but very few know that the Barcelona star was born and raised in the same city as another Argentinian export: Che Guevara.
“I’ll go elsewhere and find the Argentina shirt with my name on it and it is so cool,” Messi said once. “I’m excited when I see flags of Che Guevara, Diego [Maradona] from Argentina anywhere in the world, I have strong feelings for that.”
Two boys from a very humble background that would go on to shape the modern world one way or another!
Like father like son
Messi’s third son, Thiago, was inducted in to the Newell Old Boys' official supporters’ club just 72 hours after being born and holds a supporters’ club contract at the very first club his father played for.
The deal was struck prior to his birth by Messi’s father, Jorge, and involved the Argentinian club flying all the way to Barcelona with a contract and a replica shirt with the name “Messi” across the back of it.
Still humble to the core
Messi may seem like a god to many, but like many professional soccer players the Barcelona icon rarely bothers watching highlights of his own games.
In an interview, the forward revealed that his wife, Antonella, gets bored watching football and that he simply lets her know how many goals he scored. "I like watching cartoons with Thiago,” joked the Barcelona star when asked what he does prefer to watch in his spare time. “He laughs a lot."