Lionel Messi Quotes

Lionel Messi is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a forward for Spanish club Barcelona and the Argentina national team. Often considered the best player in the world and rated by many in the sport as the greatest of all time, Messi is the only football player in history to win five FIFA Ballon d’Or awards, four of which he won consecutively, and the first player to win three European Golden Shoes. With Barcelona he has won eight La Liga titles, four UEFA Champions League titles, and three Copas del Rey. A prolific goalscorer, Messi holds the records for most goals scored in La Liga, a La Liga season (50), a calendar year (91), a single season (73), and most hat-tricks in La Liga (36). He is the second highest goalscorer in the history of the Champions League with 77 goals, and has the most assists in the competition’s history with 40. In March 2012, he became Barcelona’s all-time leading scorer in official competitions with his 235th goal.

Table of Contents:

1. Early life

2. Club career

3. International career

4. Personal life

5. Awards and achievements

6. Legacy

7. Top Lionel Messi Quotes

Early Life:

Messi was born on 24 June 1987 in Rosario, the third of four children of Jorge Messi, a steel factory manager, and his wife Celia Cuccittini, who worked in a magnet manufacturing workshop. On his father’s side, he is of Italian and Spanish descent, the great-grandson of immigrants from the northcentral Adriatic town of Istria and of Catalonia. His mother’s family, hailing from the city of Rosario, had both Spanish and Italian ancestry. Messi has two older brothers, Rodrigo and Matias, and a younger sister, Maria Sol. At the age of five, he started playing football for Grandoli, a local club coached by his father. In 1995, Messi switched to Newell’s Old Boys.

Club Career:

Messi made his debut for Newell’s Old Boys on 16 November 2003. He played his first game for the senior team three days later, aged 16. During the following season, he was the team’s leading goalscorer with ten goals in league play. Newell’s finished the season in second place behind River Plate. In February 2005, Messi suffered a growth hormone deficiency that restricted his growth, and doctors recommended that he leave Rosario to join a club in Europe that could pay for his medical treatment.

International Career:

Messi has represented Argentina at senior level since 2005. He has played in five FIFA World Cups, four Copas América, and two Olympic Games. With 34 goals, he is Argentina’s all-time top scorer in the World Cup, and has the second-most goals in Copa América history with 14. He has scored more senior international goals for Argentina than any other player.

Personal Life:

In 2007, Messi married his childhood sweetheart, Antonela Roccuzzo, with whom he has two sons: Thiago (born 2012) and Mateo (born 2015).

Awards and Achievements:

Messi has won a record-tying five Ballon d’Or awards, four of which he won consecutively, and the first player to win three European Golden Shoes. He has also been the recipient of five FIFA World Player of the Year awards, and is the only player to win the golden ball award at three different levels: at the senior level, with the under-20 team, and with the under-23 team. He has also won ten La Liga titles, four UEFA Champions League titles, and three Copas del Rey.

Legacy:

Messi is widely considered to be one of the greatest players of all time. He has been described as a “genius” and “the best player in the world” by players, coaches, and commentators. Messi has also been praised for his work ethic, and is frequently considered an inspiration to younger players.

Top Lionel Messi Quotes:

“My style of play has always been the same. I never tried to develop a specific style. From very young I just played this way.”

“Every year I try to grow as a player and not get stuck in a rut. I try to improve my game in every way possible.”

“It takes sacrifice as well as talent.”

“You have to fight to achieve your dreams. You have to sacrifice and work hard for it.”

“When the year starts the objective is to win it all with the team, personal records are secondary.”

“Being a bit famous now gives me the opportunity to help people who really need it, especially children.”

“My ambition is always to get better and better.”

“From the age of three, I played every day-morning, afternoon and night.”

“I always thought about carrying on training and working, chasing my dream.”

“I start early and I stay late, day after day, year after year, it took me 17 years and 114 days to become an overnight success.”

“I like to score goals but I also like to have friends among the people I have played with.”

“You can overcome anything, if and if only you love something enough.”

“A lion doesn’t concern himself with the opinions of a sheep.”

“I still have a lot of room for improvement. For example, I want to shoot equally well with both feet.”

“I would pass onto any young player to enjoy your football, play your football as you want to play the game, try and enjoy it and make the most of it.”

“Being a bit famous now gives me the opportunity to help people who really need it, especially children.”

“Many years ago when I first started my career Maradona told me “to enjoy and play as you know”, and that’s stayed with me ever since and is the best advice I’ve been given.”

“In football as in watchmaking, talent and elegance mean nothing without rigour and precision.”

“Being a bit famous now gives me the opportunity to help people who really need it, especially children.”

“Give the opponents more than one reason to stare at your feet.”

“I’m always proudest whenever I’ve been part of a trophy-winning team. Lifting a title makes me feel so happy because it’s what I want to do in football: be successful.”

“One of the Arsenal players came up to me afterwards and said it had been an honor to be on the same pitch as me. I thought, My God, that is a great thing to say when your team has just lost.”

“I have fun like a child in the street. When the day comes when I’m not enjoying it, I will leave football.”

“Something deep in my character allows me to take the hits and get on with trying to win.”

“I think my desire to always get better, to always want more, to always be my top critic, and accepting the good and the bad is a trait that accounts for my success.”

“In football as in watchmaking, talent and elegance mean nothing without rigor and precision.You cannot allow your desire to be a winner to be diminished by achieving success before and I believe there is room for improvement in every sportsman.”

“Sometimes, you have to accept you can’t win all the time.”

“Fatherhood changes you completely. If things didn’t go my way before, I became withdrawn and didn’t want to see or listen to anyone. Now, when I arrive home, I see my son and everything is OK. He’s the most important thing to me now.”

“Motivation is not something I struggle with. I love playing football, I love being in training.”

“I want to concentrate on winning things with Barcelona and Argentina. Then if people want to say nice things about me when I have retired, great. Right now, I need to concentrate on being part of a team – not just on me.”

“I don’t need the best hairstyle or the best body. Just give me a ball at my feet and I’ll show you what I can do.”

“I try to use pressure to help me in every game. Pressure helps me do things to the best of my ability. I like it. I don’t feel pressure; quite the contrary, because I always enjoy what I’m doing and that’s playing football.”

“If I hadn’t had support, I wouldn’t have been able to fulfill my dreams.”

“I have fun like a child in the street. When the day comes when I’m not enjoying it, I’ve always really just liked football, and I’ve always devoted a lot of time to it. When I was a kid, my friends would call me to go out with them, but I would stay home because I had practice the next day.”

“Whether it’s a friendly match, or for points, or a final, or any game – I play the same. I’m always trying to be my best, first for my team, for myself, for the fans, and to try and win.”

“The day you think there is no improvements to be made is a sad one for any player.”

“Every year I try to grow as a player and not get stuck in a rut. I try to improve my game in every way possible.”

“Before if I lost or did something wrong I didn’t talk to anyone for three or four days until it passed. Now, I come home after a game, I see my son, and everything is alright.”

“I never had any problems with my height. I was always the smallest kid, at school and in my teams.”

“Every time I start a year, I start with the objective of trying to achieve everything, without comparing it to how I’ve done in other seasons.”

“I am a normal person. I have the same life as any human being. When I finish playing, doing my work, I have my family, my friends, and I live like any other person.”

“My motivation comes from playing the game I love.”

“Money is not a motivating factor. Money doesn’t thrill me or make me play better because there are benefits to being wealthy. I’m just happy with a ball at my feet. My motivation comes from playing the game I love. If I wasn’t paid to be a professional footballer I would willingly play for nothing.”

“The best decisions aren’t made with your mind, but with your instincts.”

“I’m lucky to be part of a team who help to make me look good, and they deserve as much of the credit for my success as I do for the hard work we have all put in on the training ground..”

“I know how important it is to have a helping hand. In my childhood I had difficult times because of hormonal problems. If I hadn’t had support, I wouldn’t have been able to fulfill my dreams.”

“Every year I try to grow as a player and not get stuck in a rut. I try to improve my game in every way possible.”

“I go out and do the best I can in each game, and I don’t think about the fouls other players will commit or whether I might be injured. It only does you harm to worry about those things.”

“You have got to love the game.”

“Goals are only important if they win games.”

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