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Se7eN
Division 1 Rookie
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Joined: 07 Apr 2005
Posts: 1375
Location: Romania
18579 ODpoints
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| ceh wrote: |  Cool match between 2 spanish top teams, I would go for Barça but you never know what Betis is cappable of, but still 2-0 for Barçca, I hope Mexes can score a goal...  |
Mexes is a Roma player  , he's a defender. |
| Sat Aug 20, 2005 4:26 pm |
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ceh 
Emo Kid !
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Joined: 06 Jun 2005
Posts: 3604
Location: Mol, Belgium
26015 ODpoints
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| Quote: | Lionel Messi has grown into one of Argentina’s hottest properties and comparisons with Diego Maradona are not unwarranted as he continues to impress for both club and country, writes Lucas Brown.
The 18-year-old midfielder, known as Leo, catapulted himself into the international spotlight when he shone for Argentina’s Under-20 side in the recent World Championships and he has now been picked for the full team for next week’s international friendly against Hungary.
He maybe embarrassed about the comparisons with Maradona, but they prove how highly-rated Messi has become and the expectations that are being laid before him.
Messi finished as the Under-20 tournament’s top goalscorer and was voted the best player at the event in Holland as he led his country to victory against Nigeria in the final.
His rise to fame forced Barcelona to offer the youngster a new deal that will keep him at the club until 2012 as well as increasing his buy-out clause to €150million, the same level as Ronaldinho.
The Camp Nou outfit have also assured Messi of a place in the first-team squad after other clubs began to sniff around to see if there was any discontent on the part of the player whilst he remained on the B-team roster.
But all of this would not have been possible had Barcelona not stepped into provide the youngster with the treatment he needed in order to grow five years ago.
Messi was born on June 24 1987 and by the age of five was playing for Club Grandoli, a team that his father Jorge ran in Argentina.
He soon joined the youth ranks at Newell’s Old Boys where his elder brother Rodrigo was playing and worked his way up attracting the attention of River Plate at the age of 13.
But it was during his proposed move to Los Millonarios that it was discovered that Messi’s bones lacked vital hormones and that was preventing his growth.
The required treatment was expensive and not one club in Argentina was able to afford to help and neither was his family on his father’s pay as a metal worker.
Jorge contacted relatives in Lleida in the centre of Catalunya and left for Spain after Barça had expressed an interest in giving young Lionel a trial after being watched by their scouts in South America.
During his first game for the Catalan oufit Messi scored five goals and dazzled every onlooker with his ability and the club agreed to fund his medical requirements.
Standing at just 140cm, Messi began the course of injections that he administered himself and began to grow to the 170cm that he is today.
He repaid their faith by going on to score 37 goals in just matches as he moved up through the ranks to the B team at Camp Nou.
But if that rise was rapid, the last 14 months have been an incredible journey that have taken Messi from an obsure player in Barça’s reserve team to worldwide recognition and a place in Argentina’s full squad.
In June 2004, Spain requested that he represent them, but the player always knew where his loyalties lay and stated that he wanted to play for Argentina and he made his debut for the country’s youth side against Paraguay.
"They asked me to play for the Spanish national side, but I said that could not because I wanted to play for Argentina," he explained.
Four months later Messi was handed his debut with Barcelona as he appeared as a subsitute in the 1-0 victory over local rivals Espanyol in Montjuïc.
He had already tasted top level footbal with Barça in a friendly against Porto a year earlier, but this was the true recognition that his talent deserved.
After becoming the third youngest player to ever appear for Barcelona in a competitive match when he played against Espanyol, Messi then broke another record when he became the club's youngest ever goalscorer towards the end of last season as he netted the third goal in the Blaugrana’s victory against Albacete.
The Under-20 tournament in the Netherlands was another turning point as it has led to José Pekerman including him in his squad for the game against Hungary on Wednesday.
Messi admits that his rise is overwhelming and he is honoured by comparisons with Maradona, but does not believe that they are warranted.
"Everything that has happened to me is like a dream," he said. "I have to pinch myself sometimes to believe that it is real.
"But to be compared to Maradona is too much. He is the best player of all time and I am just at the start of my career. I am very grateful for the praise, but this comparison is exagerating things."
Messi has revealed that he does have one idol from his country that he does not mind talking openly about.
"I admire Pablo Aimar," he continued. "I was lucky enough to tell him that and have a chat when we played Valencia and we swapped shirts.
"He is a great player and I try to watch his game and study it and copy what he does."
Messi is a man of few words and allows his football to do the talking instead and with his speed, agility and eye for the killer pass he will earn many headlines in the years to come.
If he does make his full debut against Hungary in midweek then even more comparisons with Maradona will flow as the greatest Argentine footballer ever made his debut against the same opposition in 1977.
Maradona was then left out of the World Cup squad a year later by Cesar Menotti, who recently stated that Messi should watch the finals in Germany in 2006 at home on television |
Last edited by ceh on Tue Aug 23, 2005 5:29 pm; edited 1 time in total |
| Mon Aug 22, 2005 12:39 pm |
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kristianos
Division 2 Rookie
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Joined: 02 Aug 2005
Posts: 372
Location: Mol, Belgium
22742 ODpoints
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Very nice thread Ceh.. |
| Tue Aug 23, 2005 4:30 pm |
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ceh
Emo Kid !
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Joined: 06 Jun 2005
Posts: 3604
Location: Mol, Belgium
26015 ODpoints
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yeah yeah, just say some comments, i dont need no ass kissing (thanx gohawks  )
Last edited by ceh on Tue Aug 23, 2005 11:27 pm; edited 1 time in total |
| Tue Aug 23, 2005 5:30 pm |
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gohawks13
Moderator
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Joined: 04 Jul 2005
Posts: 1304
Location: Chicago, USA
542 ODpoints
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| ceh wrote: | | yeah yeah, just say some comments, i dont need no ass sucking |
.... woah woah woah killer, man either u european kids have a really bad edge or i dont get ur sarcasm (and its ass "kissing" ) |
| Tue Aug 23, 2005 10:23 pm |
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ceh
Emo Kid !
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Joined: 06 Jun 2005
Posts: 3604
Location: Mol, Belgium
26015 ODpoints
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| gohawks13 wrote: | | ceh wrote: | | yeah yeah, just say some comments, i dont need no ass sucking |
.... woah woah woah killer, man either u european kids have a really bad edge or i dont get ur sarcasm (and its ass "kissing" ) |
haha, he's just a loser and I hate people just saying: nice thread, c'mon i can get points for those stuff too, just put your comments about Messi and stuff, it is a football forum, said that over a hunderd times by now, canged it btw, too ass kissing |
| Tue Aug 23, 2005 11:27 pm |
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stino8
Division 2 Novice
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Joined: 21 Sep 2005
Posts: 513
16583 ODpoints
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nice pics
very nice pics ceh i like them can you find them anywere? |
| Wed Sep 21, 2005 12:11 pm |
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ceh
Emo Kid !
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Joined: 06 Jun 2005
Posts: 3604
Location: Mol, Belgium
26015 ODpoints
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Re: nice pics
| stino8 wrote: | | very nice pics ceh i like them can you find them anywere? |
is a thing called GOOGLE  |
| Wed Sep 21, 2005 12:13 pm |
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