Lionel Messi Career

Copa America 2007

Messi played his first game in Copa America on 29 June, 2007, when Argentina defeated United States 4-1 in the first game. In this game, Messi showed his capabilities as a playmaker. He set up a goal for fellow striker Hernan Crespo and had numerous shots on target. Tevez came on as a substitute for Messi in the 79th minute and scored minutes later.

His second game was against Colombia, in which he caused a penalty that Crespo converted to tie the game at 1-1. He also played part in Argentina's second goal as he was fouled outside the box, which allowed Juan Roman Riquelme to score from a freekick, and increase Argentina's lead to 3-1. The final score of the game was 4-2 in Argentina's favor and guaranteed them a spot in the tournament's quarterfinals.

In the third game, against Paraguay the coach rested Messi having already qualified for the quarter-finals. He came off the bench in place of Esteban Cambiasso in the 64th minute, with 0-0. In the 79th minute he created a goal for Javier Mascherano. In the quarterfinals, as Argentina faced Peru, Riquelme made a pass to Messi and the latter scored the second goal for Argentina, which advanced to the semifinals after a 4-0 win.

In the semi finals against Mexico, Messi scored when he spotted the Mexican goalkeeper off of his line and chipped the ball into the goal. The goal ultimately helped his team to a 3-0 victory and earned them a place in the final against Brazil, which Argentina subsequently lost.

Lionel Messi Career

2006-07 season

Messi maintained his reputation as a big match player when he tricked Brazilian full back, Roberto Carlos, making him fall over and break a finger during one particularly deft move.[25] His 89th minute equaliser away to Werder Bremen was pivotal in Barcelona's qualification to the Champions League knock out phase. Messi had another long lay off with a broken metatarsal which kept him out for 3 months.[26] He sustained the injury in a game against Real Zaragoza on November 12, after tackles from Alberto Zapater and Albert Celades.[27] On 5 January 2007, Spanish newspaper El Mundo Deportivo reported that Internazionale president Massimo Moratti was planning a £71 million bid for Messi;[28] however, Moratti denied any immediate plans to sign Messi in an interview posted on Internazionale's official website.[29] He made his return against Racing Santander on the 11th of February, where he came on as a second-half substitute.[1] On 10 March 2007, he scored a hat-trick against Real Madrid in El Clásico, with his third goal coming in injury time to earn 10-man Barcelona the draw 3-3 at home to Real Madrid. Messi was the first player to score a hat-trick in El Clásico since Iván Zamorano did it for Real Madrid in the 1994-95 season, and the first Barcelona player to do it since Romario scored three against Real Madrid in the 1993-94 season. Messi is the youngest player ever to have scored in El Clásico, and against Recreativo he scored again, his 7th goal. He scored again against Deportivo, from a wonderful pass from Ronaldinho. A wonderful solo goal against Getafe CF in a Copa del Rey game on 18 April further reflected Messi's footballing similarity with Diego Maradona, and has further forged the youngster as one of the hottest prospects in the game[30]. On June 9 Messi scored a goal with his hand against RCD Espanyol very similar to Diego Maradona, once again furthering the comparisons with the former Argentina great. He scored 2 goals when they beat Atletico Madrid with 6-0, and 2 goals against Espanyol. On the closing day of La Liga, Messi scored two goals against Gimnastic de Tarragona but, despite his efforts to lead his club to victory in that game, Barcelona lost La Liga crown to Real Madrid.

Few days later Spanish news agency EFE awarded him the 2007 trophy for the best Ibero-American football player in La Liga ahead of Daniel Alves from Sevilla and club mate Ronaldinho. Messi gained the title as the youngest player ever and has a buy out clause of 150 million Euros which is the highest in the world. [citation needed]
Messi shortly before scoring the goal.
Messi shortly before scoring the goal.

On April 18, 2007, Messi scored two goals during a Copa del Rey semi-final against Getafe CF, one of which was very similar to Maradona's famous goal against England at the 1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico, known as the Goal of the Century.[31] Messi's goal is already considered a major contender for the best goal of the year. The world's sports press exploded with Maradona comparisons, and the Spanish press labelled Messi as "Messidona". He ran about the same distance (62 metres), beat the same number of players (six, including the goalkeeper), scored from a very similar position, and ran towards the corner flag just as Maradona did in Mexico 21 years before. In a press conference after the game, Messi's team-mate Deco said: "There's no other like Leo." [32]

Lionel Messi Career

World Cup 2006

The injury that kept him from playing for two months at the end of the 2005/06 league jeopardised his presence at the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Nevertheless, Messi was selected in the Argentina squad for the tournament on May 15 2006. He also played in the farewell match against the Argentinian U-20 team for fifteen minutes and a friendly against Angola from the 64th minute.[18][19]

Messi witnessed Argentina's opening match win against Ivory Coast from the bench because manager Pekerman wanted to shield him from the pressure.[20] In the next match against Serbia and Montenegro, he came on as a substitute for Maxi Rodríguez in the 74th minute. In doing so he became the youngest player to represent Argentina at a World Cup. He assisted Hernán Crespo's goal within minutes of entering the game and also scored the final goal in the 6-0 victory. This goal made him the youngest scorer in the 2006 World Cup and the sixth youngest scorer in World Cup history, Pelé being the youngest.[21] Messi started in Argentina's following 0-0 tie against the Netherlands. Fellow striker Carlos Tevez and he were not allowed much space by the Dutch defence, which prevented him from causing any damage and he was substituted in the 69th minute.[22]

In the following game against Mexico, Messi came on as a substitute for Javier Saviola in the 84th minute, with the score tied 1-1. He appeared to score a goal, but was ruled offside. Argentina proceeded to win the game 2-1 in extra time.[23] Messi spent the entire quarter-finals match against Germany, which Argentina lost in a penalty shootout, on the bench.[

Lionel Messi Career

International début

On August 4, José Pekerman called him up to the senior Argentine national team. He made his début against Hungary, being put in during the 63rd minute, but was sent off after just 40 seconds, because the referee Markus Merk found he had elbowed the defender Vilmos Vanczák who was tugging Messi's shirt, and left the pitch in tears. The decision was heavily contested as Maradona even claimed the decision was pre-meditated.[8][9] Messi then had his first real international debut on September 3 in Argentina's 0-1 World Cup qualifier away loss against Paraguay playing the last eight minutes of the match.[10] Ahead of the match he had said "This is a re-début. The first one was a bit short"[11]

Lionel Messi Career

Argentina U-20

Messi was offered the chance to play for the Spanish national side[citation needed], but he declined, preferring to wait for the opportunity to play for the country of his birth. In June 2004, he got his chance, playing in an under-20 friendly match against Paraguay.

In June 2005, Messi played in the U-20 team that won the Football World Youth Championship in Netherlands, picking up the Golden Boot as top scorer with 6 goals, and the Golden Ball for the best player of the tournament. Despite his youth, Lionel was already being compared to Diego Maradona, one of the greatest football players of all time. On June 27, FC Barcelona renewed his contract until 2010, establishing a selling clause of €150 million (which happens to be 30 million more than his Barcelona team mate, Ronaldinho).[3][7]