~~ LEGENDS are "BORN" not "CREATED" ~~. Review on Lionel Messi

" Messi( passed 2 defenders). Oh! Brillaint skill from Leonel Messi. Surging forward with real menace here. Brillaint from Messi. Ohh! What a goal that is! "

"And the whole of this stadium stands and applauds the 19 year old; Have you seen a better goal than that anywhere this season.? I very much doubt that.! "

Excerpts from a copa del rey match played b/w Barca and Getafe in 2007.

Sky sports commentator's words flowing like a rampaging river on April 2007 as he simply couldn't stop gushing over the vast footballing talents of Leonel Messi and that was the first time I saw this footballing genius, the so-called "godson" of Diego Maradona, playing the game live in a club match played between Spanish clubs Barcelona and Getafe in 2006-07. 2007, at a time when I was mostly following cricket and tennis, this wonder goal from Messi got me interested into club football unlike never before and even more so to following the careers of players like him, Torres, Rooney, Gerrard, Iniesta and Ronaldo.

The most unbelievable thing about that goal was the fact that it was an almost identical goal to Diego Maradona's versus England in the world cup; the goal many consider as the goal of the century. The first time I heard about this talisman, this immensely talented child prodigy, coming from "Football's Mecca" - Argentina - was way back in 04-05 - the first time ever Lionel Messi. Messi played for Argentina in the international stage playing against Hungary in a friendly match. Sadly Messi couldn't do particularly well on that match as he was sent off by the referee Vilmos Vanzack for elbowing the opponent just 2 minutes into the field.!

2005, 2006 was the time for Spanish football and Barcelona was quite clearly the best club in spain with players like Deco, Xavi and Ronaldinho playing at their very, very best not to mention that promising coach Frank Rijkaard around to mastermind their tactics - it was quite clearly the perfect platform for a young player like Messi to groom and evolve into a world class player. . But no one could have imagined that young Leo would go on from being beginner to amatuer to professional to world class all in a span of just 2, 3 years.! Pele quoted back in the time that he hasn't seen any footballer growing and learning the game as quick and fast as Leo Messi did during that period. That's how freaky Lionel Messi was and still is.

There are many points to which you can draw comparison's with Maradona and Messi, except from the obvious fact they can play "football" and can play at that in the high quality and the highest order. Their height is almost the same Maradona 5.5" and Messi 5.7". They are naturally born athletes. And also both Messi and Maradona had instances in their childhood, where a working professional and general public in the society wrote them off for being ill-fit and ill-suited for being able to compete in sports primarily because of their heights. Messi had a hormone deficiency problem while growing up and his doctor declared him "ill fit" and "ill suited" for participating in any form of sports anywhere in the world.

His, father Jorge Horasio Messi was really disheartened with his son's condition as the Maradona fan, always dreamed about his son becoming a world renowned footballer like Diego. The doctors said it would cost as much as 900 US dollars a month for his kid's treatment for an indefinite period and the father, simply being a mere factory worker, couldn't afford that to be quite honest. But that was when Carles Rexach, the director of FC Barcelona made him and his father that infamous offer "on a tissue paper" and one that went on to re-write the history books forever and ever.!

Apparently back in the day Messi had some relatives in West Catalonia, and they were fortunate enough to arrange an audition for him in favor of  Barcelona's C team as he played along with the likes of fabregas, iniesta and the rest. Watching little leo playing along with such talented players there was no hesitation in Carles's mind that this little player from Argentina is nothing short of being a "wonder-kid".

16 year old Messi made his professional debut for Barcelona in 2003 in a friendly game against portugal club FC Porto and scored his first senior goal for Barcelona on May 1st 2005 and the rest as we know is history. He scored more than 300 club+ international goals, won 4 FIFA Ballon D'or award, 3 European player of the year award. Won all major competitions for FC Barcelona including Six La Liga's and 3 EUFA Champions league competitions. To top this all he is Barcelona's all time highest scorer and also completed his 300th goal for the club, achieving the feat in February 2013.

Another astonishing statistics of Messi, and one that sets him apart from the rest according to me, is the fact that he is as good with the assists as he's an undisputed goal scoring machine. Along with the 300 goals, Messi assisted for Barcelona in 218 occasions and in comparison no other player comes anywhere close to him especially in FCB( If I am not mistaken He has the most number of assists as well) .

Despite achieving all these incredible meta-feats there is also that criticism lingering in there somewhere that Argentina was not one of Messi's priorities - not that he couldn't play well for his country, but that he wasn't interested in doing so. In his 83 appearances for Argentina, Messi has scored a not-so-bad 37 goals but unfortunately he hasn't set the world alight in world cup football as he often does in club football. But there is no doubt in my mind that he's gonna better that record sooner rather than later.

In fact his terrific performance has helped Argentina to qualify for the 2014 FIFA world cup next year in Brazil and if early indications are to be believed then this Tallisman is surely going to make a huge impact in the next world cup without a shadow of a doubt. Still widely regarded as the best footballer in the world, this is the story of Leonel Andres Messi. I'm signing off with the Immortal words of the legendary  Frenec Puskas~ Legends are "Born" not "Created"~  Good night and Good luck.