The Argentine Spaniard is Barcelona’s trump card and is considered to be the world’s best contemporary player. One of his biggest compliments was Maradona calling him his successor; his abilities having been compared to him. Having played for Newell’s Old Boys, his talent was quickly spotted by Carles Rexach, the sporting director for Barcelona. At the time Messi was suffering from Growth Hormone Deficiency and could not pay for his medical bills. After impressing in the Barcelona trials they offered to pay the bills, provided Messi and his family moved to Europe.
He quickly became part of Barcelona’s youth system. His career started in 2004 against Porto 2003 (His first professional match). Rijkaard deserved some credit for giving Messi a push at such a young age at 16. His reputation furthered in the 2005-2006 season where he formed a strong passing combination with Ronaldhino.
This was the start of his intricate dribbling, and passing fuelled on instinct. During the 2006-2007 campaign he was considered a first team player and proved the hype to his nickname “New Maradona. In April 2007 against Getafe, he scored a goal similar to Maradonas, a 1986 goal against England known as the “Goal of the Century.” He ran the same distance (62 metres), beat the same number of players (six), scored from a similar position and celebrated at the corner flag just as Maradona did 21 years prior. “It was the best goal I have ever seen in my life”, said Deco on the goal. Players like Messi are born and cannot be made.
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