"Lionel Messi" -The little magician of world football

Lionel Messi is regarded as one of the best football players of his generation, Messi received several Ballon d'Or and FIFA World Player of the Year nominations by the age of 21, and won in 2009 ,2010 and 2011. His playing style and ability have drawn comparisons to Diego Maradona, who himself declared Messi as his "successor".

Messi has won five La Liga titles, three Champions League titles, scoring in two of those finals, against Manchester United in both 2009 and 2011. He was not on the pitch as Barcelona defeated Arsenal in 2006, but received a winners' medal from the tournament. After scoring 12 goals in the 2010–11 Champions League, Messi became only the third player (after Gerd Müller and Jean-Pierre Papin) to top-score in three successive European Champion Clubs' Cup campaigns. However, Messi is the first one to win the Champions League top scorer titles for three consecutive years after Champions League changed its format in 1992.
Messi was the top scorer of the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship with six goals, including two in the final game. Shortly thereafter, he became an established member of Argentina's senior international team. In 2006, he became the youngest Argentine to play in the FIFA World Cup and he won a runners-up medal at the Copa América tournament the following year. In 2008, in Beijing, he won his first international honour, an Olympic gold medal, with the Argentina Olympic football team. At international level Messi has scored 18 goals in 64 games.

His first championship would come in the Liga season of 2004-05. Since then, and playing a more prominent role every season, he has won every major club trophy at Camp Nou - including a stunning haul of six in 2008-09 - and claimed the World Player of the Year award three times in three years, leaving many in little doubt as to the fact that Messi is the best player of his generation; possibly of all-time.

Strengths: His ball skills are second to none, his runs from midfield are usually lethal and he is almost impossible to tackle when he gets his head down. His balance when running at speed is incredible.  

Weaknesses: Too often he searches for a way to finish moves by himself without looking for team-mates in a better position to shoot at goal.  

Career high: Winning the 2009, 2010 and 2011 World Player of the Year awards.
  
Career low: He was unable to perform to his best in the 2006 World Cup in Germany, where Argentina were eliminated in the quarter-finals with Messi looking on from the bench. Style: Quick, incisive, balanced, a stylish runner with the ball.

 Quotes: "Messi is my Maradona," said Maradona himself, as the head coach of the Argentine national team.

 Trivia: His debut with the national team (against Hungary) was a disaster: he entered the game in the 18th minute of the second half, and 47 seconds later was sent off.

          Profile of Leonel Messi