Kontraband Know It All

Where and when was Lionel Messi born? Is it true he had growth hormone problems?
Lionel Andrés Messi (sometimes known as Leo Messi) was born in the city of Rosario, a large city in the north-east part of Argentina, not far from Buenos Aires. The world famous footballer was born on 24 June 1987, which means he is still only 25. As fellow superstar team-mates Xavi and Carles Puyol are 32 and 34 years old respectively, it seems young Messi has a lot of time in front of him to carry on astonishing football fans around the globe.
The Argentine star is 5'7" (Xavi is also 5'7" as is Andrés Iniesta). This is not particularly small, especially as you consider the legend that is Diego Maradona, who stands tall at just 5'5". However, when he was 11, Messi was diagnosed with a growth hormone deficiency and without treatment this could have cut short his footballing career (no pun intended). Fortunately, his expensive medical treatment was paid for by Barcelona in return for the young player moving to Spain and joining the Barcelona Youth Academy. Still, without treatment he could have played for Brazil's The Giants of the North little people football team. They have silky dribbling skills but don't score too many headers...

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Who did Messi play for before going to Barcelona?
It may seem that Messi has Barcelona's colours running through his veins (possibly not the rather fluorescent away strip though), but he has played for other teams, albeit as a youth. He started off as a child with his local Argentine team, which was called Grandoli, before moving to the well established club Newell's Old Boys, which is based in his hometown of Rosario. He was part of Newell's Old Boys youth team for 5 years, from 1995 to 2000, in a team that only lost 1 game in 4 years.
In 2000 he moved to Barcelona and played for several of their youth teams before moving up to Barcelona C and Barcelona B. He made his first team debut on 16 Oct 2004 at the age of 17 years 114 days. His first senior goal took some time to come, taking place on 1 May 2005, but he hasn't looked back since. Messi has also played for national teams Argentina U20, Argentina U23 and the senior Argentina team. Newell's Old Boys might seem like an odd name for a football team in a Spanish speaking country, but British immigrants were integral to the creation of the Argentine league, explaining club names such as Arsenal (named after the English club), Alumni (formed by students of Buenos Aires English High School) and The Referee's a W*nker FC (named after the famous English football chant, possibly fictional).

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What are some of the amazing football records currently held by Leo Messi?
Due to his incredible dribbling skills, preternatural sense of where the goal is and generosity in making assists, it is unsurprising to discover that Messi currently holds some rather impressive football records: most goals scored in a season with 82 (club & country), most goals scored in a season with 73 (club only), most goals scored in a calendar year with 74 (club only) and most goals scored in the FIFA Club World Cup with 4 (joint with Denilson). At the time of writing, Messi had just broken Gerd Muller's world record for goals in a calendar year (total). Messi has scored 86 goals so far in 2012, Muller managed 85 in 1972.
Messi also possesses a whole host of European, Spanish and Barcelona records; an incredible feat considering he is only 25. He has been voted the world's best player 3 times in a row and it seems likely he will make it a record 4th time when the award winner is announced on 7 Jan 2013. He has scored an incredible 281 goals in 351 appearances for Barcelona and is 4th on the list of Champions League & European Cup record goalscorers with 56 goals (Raúl heads the list with 77). In fact, Messi is so proficient at breaking records that English football fans have been sending him copies of Diamond Lights by Hoddle & Waddle (sorry "Glenn & Chris) to break as well.

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Is Lionel Messi the greatest footballer ever?
In one word: no. In two words: not yet. The general consensus in the footballing world is that the greatest footballer ever is either Pelé or Maradona (although you should never discount the genius that was Johan Cruyff or the sheer joy of watching Emile Heskey not scoring for England). Naysayers will point out the fact that Messi has always played in La Liga (a comfort zone) and is supported by a star cast of footballers heralding arguably the best club side ever seen. When Maradona joined Napoli in 1984 the club had been caught up in relegation battles in the seasons beforehand. By the time Maradona left in 1991 the club had won the Serie A twice, the Coppa Italia, the UEFA Cup and the Supercoppa Italiana. They also came second in the league twice whilst the diminutive Argentine played for them. Maradona also won the World Cup in 1986, managing to score the dodgiest and greatest World Cup goals in the same game against England.
This is why Messi has to be classed under "not yet". He is ahead of his peers, such as Xavi, Iniesta, Ronaldo and Jamie Carragher, and he shows humility on the pitch which endears him to the fans of opposing teams (something Cristiano Ronaldo constantly fails to achieve, despite his prodigious skills). Messi has 5 league title medals, 3 Champions League medals and dozens of individual awards. But there is a mystical something that is still missing before he can be placed at the top of the football god pantheon. He needs to win a World Cup and be the star player, or go to another team and raise them to a level of greatness practically single-handedly. Otherwise he will be forever in the shadow of Pelé, Maradona, Cruyff, Beckenbauer and Carlton Palmer.

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