*** OMG! thank you for the 1000 views! love you guys!!! *** Lionel Messi (born June 24, 1987) is an Argentine footballer who plays for FC Barcelona and the Argentina national football team. He started in his father's club Grandoli that 5-year-old and was only 13 years old when he joined FC Barcelona's youth academy La Masia. First May 2005 he became the youngest goalscorer for Barcelona ever [1]. Messi has (as of June 2010) played 44 matches and scored 13 goals for the Argentine national team and was among others selected for the country's squad for World Cup in 2006. As a player of FC Barcelona, he has helped to win the Spanish championship and Champions League, he currently has scored 4 goals in 6 games this season. In 2007 he was nominated for the FIFA World Player of the Year along with Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka, but had to settle for a second place, beaten by Kaka. [2] By 2008-vote, he was also No. 2 [3] He was nominated for FIFA World Player of the Year again in 2009 and this time he won. In 2009 he won France Football Ballon d'Or. In 2010 he was nominated for the FIFA Ballon d'Or with his teammates Iniesta and Xavi, he ended up, however, winning for the second consecutive year. He has been compared with the same legend Diego Maradona, who himself has said that Messi is the player who resembles him most pure football terms.