my favourite footballer (Lionel Messi)

arly career

At the age of five, Messi started playing football for Grandoli. In 1995, Messi switched to Newell's Old Boys.[3] At the age of 11, he was diagnosed with a growth hormone deficiency.[4] River Plate showed interest in Messi's progress, but did not have enough money to pay for the treatment of the illness that cost $1500 a month. Carles Rexach, the sporting director of FC Barcelona, was made aware of Messi's talent, and Barcelona signed him after watching him play,[5] offering to pay for the medical bills if he was willing to move to start a new life in Spain.[3] His family moved to Europe and he started in the club's youth teams.[5]

[edit] Barcelona

Messi made his unofficial debut for the first team against FC Porto on 16 November 2003 (at 16 years and 145 days). Less than a year later he made his official debut against Espanyol on 16 October 2004 (at 17 years and 114 days), becoming the third-youngest player ever to play for FC Barcelona and youngest club player who played in La Liga (a record broken by team mate Bojan Krkić in September 2007).[6] When he scored his first senior goal for the club against Albacete Balompié on 1 May 2005, Messi was 17 years, 10 months and 7 days old, becoming the youngest to ever score in a La Liga game for FC Barcelona until 2007 when Bojan Krkić broke this record, scoring off a Messi assist.[7]

[edit] 2005–06 season
Messi in a match against Rangers on 11/07.

On 16 September, for the second time in three months, Barcelona announced an update to Messi's contract - this time improved to pay him as a first team member and extended till June 2014.[3][8] Messi obtained Spanish citizenship on 25 September and was finally able to make his début in the season's Spanish First Division. He had previously been unable to play because FC Barcelona had filled their quota of non-EU players. Messi's first home outing in the UEFA Champions League came on 27 September against Italian club Udinese.[9] He impressed with some great passing and a seemingly telepathic relationship with Ronaldinho that earned him a standing ovation from the 70,000-odd Nou Camp faithful.[10]

Messi netted six goals in seventeen league appearances, and scored one Champions League goal in six. However, his season ended prematurely on 7 March 2006 when he suffered a muscle tear in his right thigh during the second leg of the second round Champions League tie against Chelsea.[11] Barcelona ended the season as champions of S