Five Things You Did Not Know About Lionel Messi

The World’s greatest footballer most would say, of all times. Such a big entity is rarely ever not analyzed from every aspect of his life. Messi though, a quiet individual, is rarely seen involved in controversies, prefers not to be in the spotlight and likes to live a normal life as far as possible. Here are some facts that you probably did not know about the little magician

1.      

He could have played for Spain

Much like Diego Costa being Brazilian and playing for Spain, Pepe being Brazilian and playing for Portugal, Lionel Messi too was offered a chance to join the Spanish national side. Having dual citizenship with Argentina and Spain, he was offered a spot in the team at Spain for the U20 FIFA Youth Championship, which he turned down. Well, if he had changed allegiances to Spain, it would have been a different story this World Cup.

2.      

Donated € 600000 to a hospital

Messi donated € 600000 in March 2013 to a hospital back in his hometown at Rosario in Argentina. The money was used to refurbish a children’s hospital (Victor J Vilela Children’s Hospital) and also to pay for the Doctors to travel to Barcelona for medical training. He is linked with many charities and is a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF. As nice a person as he comes across as, Messi has shown through acts like these that he is not only a good footballer , but also a good human being.

3.      

Sent off on Senior Debut for Argentina

In August 2005, he made his debut for the senior national team of Argentina and within 44 seconds of coming on he was sent off for an offence on Vilmos Vanczak of Hungary. You don’t normally link him with sending offs and a look at the replay showed that he was actually trying to escape shirt tugging and the referee was quick to make a decision.

4.      

Origins

Born to parents of Italian origin, his father worked in a factory for steel works and coached the local youth football team. Messi also shares his birthplace with revolutionary Che Guevera. He also faced growth hormone issues as a child and owes his treatment and development to Barcelona FC, which his family could not afford at that time.

5.      

Barcelona Contract

His first contract with Barcelona was detailed out on a napkin. Impressed with Messi, Carles Rexach wanted to sign him immediately and wrote the details on a paper napkin since a piece of paper was unavailable!

Watch a video of young Messi:

And here is a 16 year old Messi playing for Barca with 

Luis Enrique

Few people know that Luis Enrique and Leo Messi arrived at Barca match as players in a game.Occurred on November 16, 2003 in a friendly against Porto when Messi was 16 and Luis Enrique played his last season at 33.