50 Fun Facts About Lionel Messi

In which Argentine city was Lionel Messi born in June 1987?

The city on the Paraná River also produced Che Guevara and Ángel Di María. Messi started playing for local club Newell's Old Boys at seven.

At age ten Messi was diagnosed with what condition, which threatened his future in football?

The treatment cost around $1,000 a month, which his family and Argentine clubs could not sustain.

Barcelona's first commitment to sign the 13-year-old Messi was famously written on what?

Sporting director Carles Rexach had nothing else to hand at a tennis club. The napkin was later sold at auction for close to £800,000.

Which club in his home city did Messi play for from the age of seven before moving to Barcelona?

He scored hundreds of goals for the youth side nicknamed 'The Machine of '87'. Rosario Central are the club's fierce city rivals.

Which Barcelona star nicknamed the teenage Messi 'little brother' and eased his way into the first team?

The Brazilian also set up Messi's first senior goal on 1 May 2005, which made him the club's youngest-ever scorer at the time.

Messi scored his first senior Barcelona goal on 1 May 2005 against Albacete. What record did it set?

He was 17 years, 10 months and 7 days old. Bojan Krkić broke the club record two years later.

Messi's first senior hat-trick, in March 2007, came against which opponent?

It rescued a 3-3 draw in the Clásico and made him the first player to score three in that fixture in 12 years. He was 19.

Messi's 2007 goals against Getafe and Espanyol were compared to whose two most famous goals?

The Getafe slalom mirrored the 'Goal of the Century' and the Espanyol handball echoed the 'Hand of God', both from the 1986 World Cup quarter-final against England.

Messi was handed Barcelona's number 10 shirt at the start of which season?

It was Pep Guardiola's first season as manager and Ronaldinho had just left for AC Milan. Messi had worn 30 and then 19 before that.

In 2009 Barcelona became the first club to achieve what?

La Liga, Copa del Rey, Champions League, Spanish Super Cup, UEFA Super Cup and Club World Cup, all in one calendar year. Messi won his first Ballon d'Or that December.

How many goals did Messi score in all competitions for club and country during the calendar year 2012?

It broke Gerd Müller's 40-year-old record of 85. Cristiano Ronaldo, at his peak the same year, managed 69.

How many Ballon d'Or awards has Messi won, a record?

The eighth, in 2023, followed the World Cup win. He also holds the record of six European Golden Shoes as the continent's top league scorer.

How many UEFA Champions League titles did Messi win with Barcelona?

2006, 2009, 2011 and 2015. Alongside them came 10 La Liga titles in a club-record haul of 34 trophies.

How many goals did Messi score for Barcelona in all competitions, the record for a single club?

He also holds the La Liga records for goals (474) and assists (192).

Barcelona's 2009 Champions League win over Manchester United completed which landmark?

Six trophies followed in the calendar year, the sextuple. In 2015 Barcelona became the first European club to win the treble a second time.

At the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship, Messi finished with six goals and which award?

He also took the Golden Shoe as top scorer as Argentina won the tournament in the Netherlands, beating Nigeria in the final.

Messi won an Olympic gold medal with Argentina's under-23s in 2008. Whom did they beat in the final?

Barcelona had tried to stop him going to Beijing; new coach Pep Guardiola let him travel, which helped win the player's loyalty.

Messi's dual citizenship made him eligible for which national team besides Argentina?

Spain approached him about switching allegiance; Argentina hurried to cap him at youth level in 2004 to close the door.

At the 2014 World Cup, Argentina lost the final to Germany, but Messi still received which award?

He looked miserable collecting it. Eight years later he became the first player ever to win it twice.

After captaining Argentina to three straight lost finals (2014–16), what did Messi announce in 2016?

He had missed a penalty in the Copa América Centenario shootout against Chile. He reversed the decision within weeks.

Besides being jointly named Best Player, what award did Messi win at the 2021 Copa América?

Argentina beat Brazil 1-0 in the final at the Maracanã, ending a 28-year wait for a major title.

Why did Barcelona say in August 2021 they could not re-sign Messi despite his 50% pay cut?

The club's wage bill breached the league's salary cap. Messi wept through his farewell press conference two days before joining PSG.

What squad number did Messi choose when he joined Paris Saint-Germain in August 2021?

It was the number he wore as a Barcelona teenager; Neymar kept the 10 at PSG. The contract was for two years with an option for a third.

The 2022 World Cup final between Argentina and France was played at which venue?

The 88,000-seat ground north of Doha was built for the tournament. The match finished 3-3 before Argentina won the shootout 4-2.

Which France player scored a hat-trick in the 2022 World Cup final and still finished on the losing side?

He was only the second man to score three in a World Cup final, after Geoff Hurst in 1966, and the first to lose one.

What did Messi become the first player ever to do at the 2022 World Cup?

He had won it in 2014 too. He also scored twice in the final, one from the spot and one from close range in extra time.

How did Argentina win the 2022 World Cup final after a 3-3 draw?

Emiliano Martínez saved from Kingsley Coman after a spot of gamesmanship, and Gonzalo Montiel struck the winning kick.

Which MLS club signed Messi in July 2023?

The deal was for two and a half years, and his number 10 shirt promptly became the best-selling jersey in the league.

Messi's first trophy in the United States, in 2023, was the Leagues Cup. Whom did his club beat in the final?

It was the club's first trophy of any kind, and Messi scored in the final and converted in the shootout.

In 2024 Messi's club won the Supporters' Shield with a record MLS regular-season points total. How many?

The old record was 73. Messi was named league MVP that year and again the next, the first player to win it in back-to-back seasons.

Who scored Argentina's winner over Colombia in the 2024 Copa América final after Messi went off hurt?

The goal came in the 112th minute at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami. It was Argentina's record 16th Copa América and third straight major title.

In 2023 Messi became the first footballer ever to win which award?

The magazine had never picked a footballer in the award's history. He had already been Laureus Sportsman of the Year in 2020 and 2023.

Which sportswear company has sponsored Messi since 2006?

Nike had him as a youngster but let the deal lapse. Adidas has since given him his own signature boot line.

How many goals had Messi scored for Argentina by the end of 2025 as its all-time top scorer?

He passed Gabriel Batistuta's old record of 54 back in 2016 and had more than doubled it by the end of 2025.

What is the record number of assists Messi holds in La Liga history?

He is also the competition's record scorer with 474 goals, well clear of Cristiano Ronaldo's 311.

How many World Cup assists had Messi recorded by the end of the 2022 tournament, a record then?

By then he also held the record for most World Cup appearances, having played in five tournaments from 2006 to 2022.

How many goals did Messi score in La Liga, the competition's all-time record?

He did it in 520 appearances, and finished as the league's top scorer many times.

Which manager, taking over Barcelona in 2008, made Messi the tactical focal point and gave him the number 10?

Under Guardiola he was pushed into a 'false nine' role, and his goalscoring exploded: 47 goals in 2008-09 became 73 in 2011-12.

How tall is Lionel Messi?

About 5 feet 7 inches. Without the hormone treatment Barcelona paid for as a boy, doctors expected he would not have reached 1.50 m.

In 2025 Messi became the first player in MLS history to do what?

The same year he led Inter Miami to their first MLS Cup, a 3-1 win in the final.

Messi's habit of pointing to the sky after scoring is a tribute to whom?

Celia walked him to training and matches from the age of four and died shortly before his eleventh birthday. Messi has kept up the gesture for his entire career.

Which striker did the young Messi idolise, calling him 'the best forward I've ever seen'?

The Brazilian was at his peak in the late 1990s while Messi was scoring almost 500 goals in six years of boys' football in his home city.

At the 2022 Finalissima, Messi's Argentina beat which European champion 3-0?

The match pitted the Copa América winners against the Euro 2020 champions. Messi provided two assists and was named player of the match, months before the World Cup.

Which English club made an offer for the 15-year-old Messi in 2003, which he turned down?

It came at the end of a season in which he scored 36 goals in 30 games for Barcelona's Cadetes A, alongside future stars Cesc Fàbregas and Gerard Piqué.

In 2014 Messi passed whose 59-year-old La Liga record of 251 goals?

The record fell with a hat-trick against Sevilla. That same season his front three with Neymar and Luis Suárez scored 122 goals, a Spanish record they beat a year later.

Messi's first-team debut, aged 16, came in a November 2003 friendly against which club?

He came on in the 75th minute. Winger Ludovic Giuly recalled the teenager dribbling past four players at a time in training, calling him 'an alien'.

Whose all-time record for career assists did Messi pass during the 2025 MLS playoffs?

The assist against New York City FC took his career tally to 405. Days later he set up two more goals in the MLS Cup final against Vancouver and was named its MVP.

In a 2003 youth cup final against Espanyol, what did Messi take off before scoring twice?

He had broken a cheekbone a week earlier and was only allowed to play with the gear on. Club lore still calls the 4-1 win the 'final of the mask'.

Messi's first professional contract, signed in February 2004, carried what initial buyout clause?

The clause jumped automatically a month later when he debuted for Barcelona B. He was so physically slight that he spent that season building muscle against older opponents.

At age four Messi joined which local club, where his father was his coach?

His father Jorge ran a department at the Acindar steel plant, and the family were devoted football fans. Two of Messi's cousins, the Biancucchi brothers, also turned professional.