THE MOST INFLUENTIAL PERSON ON AIB THIS WEEK IS LIONEL MESSI

Lionel Messi is a soccer player with Paris Saint-Germain and the Argentina national team. He has established records for goals scored and won individual awards en route to worldwide recognition as one of the best players in soccer.

He has won FIFA world player of the year four times (a record already). He has often been described as Diego Maradona’s successor because of his prolific goal-scoring record and ability to dribble past opponents.

Lionel Messi was born, on 24 June 1987, in Rosario, Argentina to a working-class family.

He started playing when he was quite little. However, Messi was identified as having a growth hormone deficiency at the age of 11. (GHD). This was a growth-stunting condition that required costly medical care, including the administration of the medication human growth hormone.

Messi’s home club, River Plate, was interested in signing him but refused to cover the cost of his medical care. Carles Rexach, the coach of Barcelona, gave Messi a tryout, and after being impressed, he offered him a contract that included paying for Messi’s medical care in Spain. Messi relocated to Barcelona with his father and joined the esteemed FC Barcelona youth academy.

The club he played for won more than two dozen league and tournament titles, and he became known as one of the best players in history. In 2019, he was voted Europe’s Ballon d’Or winner for the sixth time. In 2012, he set a record for the most goals scored in a single year.

Messi has an outstanding goal-scoring record by any measure. In 445 official matches for Barcelona FC as of June 2019, he had scored 419 goals.

Messi set an all-time global record by scoring in 21 straight games from 2012–2013. (33 goals from 21 games)

He now owns the Guinness World Record for the most goals scored in a single year (91 in 2012).

He is the only player to have goals in four straight Champions League seasons.

He has 68 goals from 133 appearances for Argentina in international play.

In addition to serving as an ambassador for Unicef, Messi has a charitable foundation that promotes children’s access to sports and education. He has assisted Argentinian hospitals in paying for services that are similar to his own because of his expensive medical treatment.

Messi wed Antonella Roccuzzo, his longtime girlfriend and the cousin of his close friend and fellow soccer star Lucas Scaglia, on June 30, 2017. Together, Messi and Roccuzzo have three children: Thiago (born in November 2012), Mateo (born in September 2015), and Ciro (born in March 2018).