Lionel Messi Research Paper

Introduction

Football is the most common sport in Europe, South America, Africa and Asia. According to HuffPost, "an estimated 3.5 billion people from all around the world view the World Cup while 1.7-billion watch the Uefa Champions League." Some of the greatest sports icons have been footballers. Born in Rosario, Argentina in 1987, Lionel Messi is regarded by dozens of legends as the best footballer to ever grace a football pitch. He has accomplished incredible feats, scored hundreds of goals, won countless trophies, and overcome numerous obstacles. His grandmother who followed him to games and training was his biggest motivation. She died when he was almost 11. As a Christian, he dedicates his goals to the sky as a tribute to her. While

His father was a steel factory manager, and his mother was a worker at a magnet manufacturing workshop. He was diagnosed with growth hormone deficiency aged 10. As his treatment cost around $1,000 monthly and was too costly for his family, Barcelona ended up paying for it after a trial in 2000 in which the first team director Charly Rexach was impressed and wanted to sign him immediately. On December 14, Messi signed a contract with FC Barcelona on a paper napkin. In 2001, he and his father, Jorge relocated to Barcelona. Messi’s only way of bonding with others was through football, as he was a foreigner as well as an introvert who suffered from homesickness. He overcame this struggle and made lifelong friends from the academy who he played with several years later in the Barcelona first team. His fame isn't simply due to his footballing prowess. It is also because of his generous donations. The Telegraph reported that he donated "4,500,000 Argentine pesos (£315,000) through the Lionel Messi Foundation" to Unicef Argentina. Another example of caring for children was by meeting one. In 2016 Murtaza Ahmadi, a young Afghan boy who rose to fame when pictures of him wearing a blue-and-white striped plastic bag with Messi's name and number scrawled on the back were posted online. Messi replied by sending Murtaza a genuine Argentina shirt, and later then met with him and walked out with the little boy in his hand before Barcelona's friendly in Qatar. He is an icon and an inspiration due to his perseverance and empathetic feelings towards Murtaza as Messi lived in a low-income