Lionel Andrés Messi Cuccittini was born on June 24, 1987 in Rosario, Argentina, a city of just over one million people 180 miles northeast of Buenos Aires whose only other notable resident happens to be Che Guevara. Like almost every kid in the country, Messi practically learned to walk with a soccer ball attached to his feet. Rosario's unpaved streets were his first soccer field and its walls his first goals. The place is now a pilgrimage point for fanatics of Number 10. His grandmother Celia walked him hand in hand to his first soccer games, and every time he scores a goal, he looks to the sky and points to the heavens in tribute to his grandmother, who died in 1998.
His talent for soccer was inversely proportional to his height. Messi suffered from a growth hormone deficiency, and the cost of treating his condition proved too expensive for his family. But since the youngster's soccer talent was already obvious, his father Jorge went looking for a club who would sign his son and pay for the treatment. He had no luck with the Argentine teams Newell's Old Boys and River Plate, both of whom refused to cover the $1,000-per-month bill, and looked instead to Europe. Barcelona had heard of young Messi's skill and was the only club that agreed to pay for the costly medical procedure.
From the very first day a 13-year-old Messi arrived to Barcelona with his father in September 2000, he felt like he belonged: "I remember that when we arrived here we realized that there wasn't such a big cultural barrier. Barcelona is a city that really cares for foreigners, it is used to receiving thousands and thousands of visitors."
Messi made his Barça debut in 2004, just four years after arriving to his new city, and the young forward quickly became friends with Ronaldinho and the other heavyweights on the team. Two years later, his name was already being chanted at Camp Nou after he wowed crowds in the friendly pre-season games. By 2009, he was the absolute king and the driving force that pushed his team to become the only team in history to win all six possible titles in one year: the Copa, La Liga, Champions, FIFA Club World Cup, Spanish Super Cup and UEFA Super Cup. And he is still sweeping up the victories. In 2018, he helped Barça win The Double again (Liga and Copa), and for nine seasons he has scored more than 40 goals in each campaign. A new record for Number 10.
But Messi is not content to rest on these achievements. "I take each day as a challenge and I always try to outdo myself," he says. "I have always been like this." One goal that's surely on his radar is winning a World Cup, without a doubt the biggest achievement he hasn't yet bagged. He came close in 2014 at the World Cup in Brazil when his team faced off against Germany in the championship match. In a heartbreaking loss, Messi and his fellow Argentines got defeated by the Germans 1-0. Now, as Messi returns to the World Cup this month in Russia, he and his teammates have another shot at the championship.
"It will be important to prepare well, because in the qualifiers we were fighting up to the end and we didn't have time to prepare ourselves," Messi says of the mindset that he and his Argentina teammates have leading up to the tournament. He adds, "We still have to make ourselves stronger as a team to be in the running to win and be at the same level as other teams like France, Germany, Brazil or Spain. But we have a good group of players and the Argentine team is always going to be a candidate to win, it doesn't matter how we get there. We always aim to win and we will try to go slowly but strongly to advance in the competition."
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