Lionel Messi’s childhood

Winning for the sixth time the Ballon d’Or in 2019, Lionel Messi has written yet another page of a story that is incredible; the Argentine number ten is considered by many to be the greatest footballer of all time (GOAT), even greater than a real football God like Diego Armando Maradona, with the only flaw that he has almost never been decisive in competitions with the Albiceleste.

For the rest, the palmares of “La Pulga” is clear: 10 Spanish Championships, 8 Spanish Super Cups, 6 Spanish Cups, 3 UEFA Super Cups, 4 Champions League, 3 Club World Cups (all won with the Barcelona shirt), as well as to an Olympic gold medal and a second place at the 2014 World Cup, to which to add the 6 Ballon d’Or and various records that he literally destroyed. Messi and his social management team claim it here, or on the pages of the official website.

Yet few, indeed, very few would have imagined that the puny little Leo, the smallest of his teammates, could have had such an important career; here is the brief history of Messi, from the beginnings to his illness, arriving at Barcelona Youth Team “La Cantera”

The beginnings on the football pitch in the footsteps of his cousins​​

Lionel Messi was born in Rosario, Argentina, on June 24, 1987 in a working class family (the mother was a cleaning lady while the father was a worker in a local factory), the third of four children. Since the age of four Leo has enjoyed himself on the football pitches, playing together with his cousins ​​Emanuel and Maximiliano Biancucchi, who later became professional footballers, too.

It is Messi’s grandmother who supports him as much as possible as a footballer, enrolling his grandson in the local Grandoli team, accompanying him to training and following him from the stands. It is precisely the figure of the grandmother, Celia, to be central in the football growth of the player: She is the one who convinces the parents to give him the first pair of football boots, at the same time asking the coach of Grandoli to field the young grandson during the most important matches. The number ten Blaugrana still celebrates his goals with his arms raised, commemorating the memory of grandmother Celia.

An unexpected discovery puts Messi’s career at risk

At the age of ten, Messi’s parents realize that something is wrong with their son: while all his teammates continue to grow visibly, little Leo always seems to remain a child physically. After many check-ups and specialists’ examinations, the player is diagnosed with a growth hormone deficiency, which can seriously jeopardize not only his career, but also his future.

To be able to be cured Lionel needed a very expensive hormone treatment (about $ 1500 a month) that the family cannot possibly cover. Initially Newell’s Old Boys, Rosario’s main team in which Messi was playing, offered to make a contribution to medical care, but the turning point came when Barcelona knocked on Jorge Messi’s door, making themselves available to  pay the treatment, if the child passed the auditions and moved to Spain.

Enchanted by Leo’s plays, the Barca observers did not hesitate to offer the young man a contract (even the signed draft was written on a napkin in a bar) and Messi moved to Spain, entering the Cantera. Until the age of sixteen, Lionel Messi followed hormone treatment.

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