Lionel Messi

Lionel Andrés "Leo" Messi (born 24th June 1987) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays for Spanish club FC Barcelona as a forward, as well as the Argentine national team. He is regarded by many as one of the best players in the history of the sport, and has been compared to former greats of the game such as Diego Maradona and Juan Roman Riquelme. Messi is the most successful individual player of all time, with five Ballon d'Or awards (four of which he won consecutively from 2010 to 2013), three European Golden Shoe awards, six La Liga Player of the Year awards, as well as a being a member of the FIFPro Team of the Year every year since 2007.

Both a prolific goalscorer and a creative playmaker, Messi holds the records for most goals scored in La Liga, a La Liga season (50), and a club football season in Europe (73), as well as those for most assists made in La Liga and the Copa América. He has scored over 500 senior career goals for club and country.

An Argentine international, Messi is his country's all-time leading goalscorer. At youth level, he won the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship, finishing the tournament with both the Golden Ball and Golden Shoe, and an Olympic gold medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics. His style of play as a diminutive, left-footed dribbler drew comparisons with compatriot Diego Maradona, who declared the teenager his successor. After making his senior debut in August 2005, Messi became the youngest Argentine to play and score in a FIFA World Cup during the 2006 edition, and reached the final of the 2007 Copa América, where he was named young player of the tournament. As the squad's captain from August 2011, he led Argentina to three consecutive finals: the 2014 World Cup, for which he won the Golden Ball, and the 2015 and 2016 Copas América.