By Jonah Kolomi
Lionel Andreas Messi was born on the 24th June 1987 he is also known as ’Leo Messi’. He is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a forward and captains for Major League Soccer club Inter Miami and the Argentine National League widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time. Leo Messi was born in Rosario Santa Fe he’s one of four children of Jorge Mendez who was a steel factory manager as of the time, currently his football manager and his mother worked in a magnet manufacturing shop whose name is Cecilia continue he is of Italian and Spanish descent according to Messi he developed a passion for the sport from an early age. Because he played with his brothers, cousins and whoever wanted to play at the time and eventually as in life every passion starts with a process he dreamt of becoming a professional footballer at age 4 he joined a local club called grandoli where he was coached by his father though his earliest influence as a player came from his maternal grandmother who accompanied him to training and matches Messi.
In February 2001 Leo Messi’s family relocated to Barcelona where they moved into an apartment near the Barcelona stadium camp nou during his first year in Spain mercy rarely played with the first team due to transfer conflict as a foreigner he could only be fielded in friendlies in the Catalan league he struggled to integrate into the team but after a year at Barcelona’s youth Academy Messi was finally enrolled into the royal Spanish Football Federation in February 2002 now playing in all competition he befriended his teammates among who were Cech Fabregas and Gerard Pique.
During the 2000 and three 2004 season his fourth with Barcelona Messi rapidly progressed through the Clubs ranks and at 16 years four months and 23 days mercy made his first team debut when he came in the 75 minutes during a friendly on 16th November 2003 his performance created two chances and a shot on goal impressed by the technical staff he subsequently began training with the club’s reserve side Barcelona B as well as weekly with the first team after his first training session with the senior squad backers new star Ronaldinho told his teammates that he believed the 16 year old would become an even better player than himself. Ronaldinho befriended Messi whom he called little brother which greatly eased his transition into the first team on 24 June his 18th birthday Messi signed his first contract as a senior team player it made him ambassador player until 2010 two years less than his previous contract but his bad clothes increased to 150 million euros his big through came two months later on 24th August during the Joan gamper trophy Due to a remarkable season Leo Messi won his first balon d’or in 2009/2010 season subsequently he went on to win the La Liga title and the third Champions League for Barcelona in the 2010 two 1011 season 2012 was the record-breaking year for Leo Andreas Messi as he maintained his goal scoring form into the second-half of the season the year 2012 saw him break several long standing records on seven March 2 weeks after scoring four goals in a league fixture against Valencia he scored five times in a Champions League last round of 16 In addition to being the joint top assist provider with five assists this field made him top scorer with 14 goals tying a record from 1960 two 1963 season as well as becoming the only second player to score in four campaigns of the Champions league 2 weeks later on 20th March mercy became the Top goal scorer for Barcelona despite message individual from Barcelona foyer circle of success under their coach gladiola one of the greatest hero in the clubs history due to an end although Barcelona won the Cooper the rear against Athletic Bilbao on 25th may its fourteen title of that. The team lost the league to Real Madrid and was eliminated from the Champions league semi-finals by eventual champions Chelsea with mercy sending a crucial second leg penalty kick against the crossbar in Barker’s last homage league match on 5th me against Espanol in the 2014 2015 season mercy had his second trouble and in the 2015 2016 season mercy had done through domestic success and in the 20/16/2017 season he won his fourth Golden Boot 2018 domestic double and 1/5 Golden Boot in 2018 mercy made his captaincy tent La Liga title and record 6th balon Dior in the 2020 season Messi deserved to leave Barcelona and in 2021 it was his final season at Barcelona in 2021 Messi signed for Paris Saint Germaine PSG and then won his 7th balloon deer and in 2022-2023 Messi won the World Cup on League Cup victory with parents are German I know Messi has his head balloon deal an impressive start for a little boy in Rosario Argentina Looking at Messi stats Following the last match played as of 2023 Leo Messi has now played 1040 games at a professional level and in those games the Argentine has scored 819 goals in addition he has provided a total of 344 assists quite impressive for a player he of the greatest of all time and his rivalry with none other than Cristiano Ronaldo has been something remarkable over the over the course of their fifteen year career and going currently both of these players are not in Europe but their dominance is still shown in Europe as many players especially of young status are trying to Push their bodies to the limit to be able to maintain the longevity that these two players have had and also be able to break some of the records set by this phenomenal players.
Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro is a professional footballer who plays as a forward and his a captain for both Saudi pro league club al Nasser and Portugal’s national team widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time Ronaldo has won five balloon deals a record 3 UEFA best player in Europe and four golden shoes the most by an European player he has won 34 trophies in his career including seven league titles five UEFA Champions League do you ever championship and UEFA nations league radio host the record for most appearances of 183 in the Champions league and has scored 140 goals and 42 assist in the competition Ronaldo began his sporting career with Sporting Lisbon before signing with Manchester United in 2 2003 winning the FA Cup in his first season he would go on to win three consecutive Premier League titles the Champions league and the FIFA World Cup at age 23 he won his first balon d’or. Ronaldo was the subject of the most expensive association of football transfers when he signed for Real Madrid in 2009 in the transfer worth 94 million euros he became a key contributor and formed an attacking threw with Karim Benzema on Garrett bale which was integral to the team winning four Champions League from 2014 to 2018 including la Decima during his campaign he lost back-to-back balon d’or in 2013 and 14 and in 16 and 17 he was run out of three times behind Leo Messi his perceived career rival he also became the clubs all time goal scorer and the all-time top scorer in the Champions league and finished as the competition stop cover for six consecutive seasons between 2012 and 2018 he signed for Juventus in a transfer world and initial 100 million the most expensive transfer from an Italian club and for a player over 30 years old he won two serial titles two super Cooper Italian trophies and the Copa Italia and then he went back to his club Manchester United in which he had 196 appearances in total and 84 goals cumulatively currently Cristiano Ronaldo plays for Saudi Arabian side and he has had 27 appearances and 26 goals the rivalry between Cristiano Ronaldo only you Messi goes on to be one of the biggest rivalries in sports history as these two each D and game keep breaking records Cristiano Ronaldo currently holds the record for most goal scores by a footballer and Leo Messi the codes the record for most assist by a player in the career 344 these guys are phenomenal and straight out of this world their rivalry meets no boundaries as they are constantly breaking new records and setting new peace for the footballers who are coming up According to a website google.com they believe that the debate between who is better between Cristiano Ronaldo and Leo Messi is one of the biggest conundrums since Diego Maradona or Pele debate the question of who is better between the Portuguese phenomenon and the imperial Argentine has dominated the minds of football fans everywhere for the past decade and will persist into the future club and national loyalties can cloud judgment on the matter while personalities also play a part in how good a player is perceived to be and most people know who they will pick so who is really the greatest player of all time?
According to fox soccer, little Messi didn’t need to win the World Cup to be considered the greatest of all time in many people’s eye but the fact that he did and did so as the focal point at such a stage in his career puts to rest any debate no one ever questioned Macy’s resume except for his international exploit the knock on him by detractors was that he always had help from the likes of pegged leaders tactics or Andreas Iniesta and Xavi playing behind him this trial puts to bed any doubt that he is capable of carrying a team to its ultimate goal when it matters most what makes the tournament run so special is the way he person his personal personality notably changed throughout the desire and drive to finally win the only press that has eluded Oh usually reserved superstar into one willing to do anything to make sure the goal was reached that’s the true mark of a great athlete. I personally prefer Cristiano Ronaldo but I have come to understand that Leo Messi is an equally great player and both deserve the greatest player of all time status that has been placed on them. they have been an inspiration to generations that are here and generations to come and without doubt you can see that in the current tactics that so many teams adapt so many players want to be like them so many players wish to be like them and so many players are pushing their limits to be them now they can only be one Cristiano Ronaldo and one Leo Messi but we can also see that they have impacted a generation without doubt these guys have adapted through two different seasons in footballs heritage they moved from playing with some of the greatest players in Cristiano Ronaldo ‘s case Luis Figo real Ferdinand Karim Benzema Marcelo Ozil and the likes Leo Messi’s case he had the opportunity to play with Ronaldinho, Andreas Iniesta, Gerard Pique, Puyol and so many others and yet this guy still adapted to younger teams played better than a lot of players who we consider as the future of football and they plead and outshine them currently Leo Messi in inter Miami in Major League Soccer on his entrance outshined all the players who have been there and are currently there and that goes on to tell you that these guys are built and forged from metal and are doing things beyond human I saw a post somewhere where someone said if a player scores fifty goals for the next 15 years he won’t be able to match the goal record that Cristiano Ronaldo has and then you can imagine the depth of the dribbles that Leo Messi performs there’s a clip where he used a couple of seconds to destabilise 4 defenders no you don’t see that in modern games these guys have moved up the hierarchy of legends they have gone anything above that and it may be the greatest rivalry because there will always be a debate on who is better but we all know that this is the greatest rivalry in sports history as Cristiano Ronaldo said and has mercy has always pushed you don’t need to hate Cristiano or dislike Cristiano for you to like mercy and you don’t need to like mercy or dislike Cristiano for you to like Leo Messi it’s beautiful what they have done for sports is beautiful what they’ve done for football they’ve put so many so many people in happy sports currently Portugal is on the map of football as having one of the greatest team with some of the greatest players because of the mark that Cristiano Ronaldo has made on it and Leo Messi for Argentina has made them world champions again and that is extremely phenomenal they are able to adapt into teams they are able to integrate with players and they are able to stand as role models to these upcoming players so I don’t think personally there should be a good debate I just think that these are the guys who have united football to be more than what it used to be and more than what it will ever be I hope that somebody the two front bases of Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi will be able to enjoy what do you have done over the last 15 years 16 years of their career and how it is really impacting a lot of people and a lot of lives.
By Jonah Kolomi
Department of Mass Communication
University of Maiduguri
