When Messi was little. The first soccer steps of the legendary striker

Lionel Messi. It is impossible to count how many epithets in the superlative degree were used next to his name. They came from the lips of Pele and Diego Maradona - the greats recognized him as an equal. Today the phenomenal Messi is 35 years old. It is a good time to remember how his soccer career began.

Thanks to Grandma!

It remains to be seen whether we would have recognized Messi had it not been for his grandmother Celia. His parents were not too inspired by his passion, but she fully supported Lionel and took him to training. Celia died when the future legend was only eleven. Lionel dedicated many of his goals to her - and fans around the world owe her a great debt of gratitude.

Little Maradona.

Any Argentinian striker will inevitably be compared to Diego Maradona. Messi's childhood coach began to draw such parallels when Lionel was only five years old. Playing mini-football for the Grandoli team, Messi impressed with his natural, intuitive dribbling combined with his high speed. Coaches usually don't like the abuse of individual play, but if your team is such an exception - would you swear and demand more passing to your teammates?

"The flea"

At the age of 10, when Messi was already a star of the Newell's Old Boys children's team, he was diagnosed with a growth hormone deficiency. A costly three-year course of treatment was barely covered - neither his family nor his club had that kind of money. When the treatment was over, La Capitale published a front-page article about the 13-year-old soccer player, "La Pulga" meaning the flea or troublemacker.

The failed legend of Real Madrid.

At the same life period, at the end of 2000, he signed a contract with Barcelona. But everything could have happened in such a way that Messi's soccer destiny would have been connected not with the Catalan club, but with the royal club. Lionel broke his hip during a match, and then, still in treatment, sprained his ligaments, and the new general manager of the club decided to lower his salary five times. Lionel's father had already been in touch with Real Madrid, but Barcelona judged in time and let the talanted kid stay.

Ronaldinho was right.

On November 16, 2003 the 16-year-old Messi played for the first time for the main team of Barcelona, coming out as a substitute in a friendly match with Porto. A year later he would play for the first time in an official match of the Spanish championship with Espanyol, as well as in the Champions League, playing against Shakhtar Donetsk. On May 1, 2005, Messi scored the first goal for Barcelona with an assist from Ronaldinho. The Brazilian would soon say that Lionel would surely surpass him in skill level. And he wasn't wrong.

A striker with a future.
Everyone knows what happened next. The only thing Messi did not win was the World Cup. He had 817 goals at all levels, seven Golden Balls and the love of millions (and maybe billions) of people on the planet. It was not without drama - just look at the forced departure from Barcelona and the transition to PSG, which so far can not be called a success. And yet, for sure, Lionel Messi has not yet said his last word in soccer.