Lionel Andrés Messi, also known as Leo Messi, is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a forward for Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain and captains the Argentina national team.
Messi has scored over 750 senior career goals for club and country, and has the most goals by a player for a single club. Born and raised in central Argentina, Messi relocated to Spain to join Barcelona at the age of 13, for whom he made his competitive debut aged 17 in October 2004.
He is regarded as the best football player of his generation and one of the best in the history of the sport. Messi received several Ballon d’Or and FIFA World Player of the Year nominations by the age of 21, and won in 2009 and 2010.
He was then scouted by Spanish club FC Barcelona and after completing his treatment- courtesy Barcelona- at the age of 14, Messi started playing for the club’s youth teams.
If I wasn’t paid to be a professional footballer, I would willingly play for nothing.