Sports Nicknames - Leo, La Pulga Atomica
Lionel Messi. Arguably the greatest player of all time. All 5'7" (1.7 m) of pure, Argentinian brilliance in a Barcelona shirt. Thanks to his low centre of gravity and ability to change directions in a flash, Spanish media have given the legend the nickname La Pulga Atomica ("The Atomic Flea").
Going over all of Messi's achievements would take an entire novel, so this will be an extremely simplified version. Messi came up through the ranks of Barcelona's famous youth academy La Masia, coming through with players like Cesc Fabergas and Gerard Pique. He rose through the various youth teams at an unbelievable pace and made his debut in 2004.
He then stayed with the first team, scoring goal after goal. He was unlike anything the world had seen. Though it was not until 2011-12 where he would truly separate himself. He scored 73 goals in 63 appearances. He could not be stopped. All of this would come with various titles, like 10 La Ligas, 6 Copa del Reys, and 4 Champions Leagues. As of the time of writing, he is the all-time leading goalscorer in La Liga (447) and for Argentina (71), has the most Ballon d'Ors (6), has the most assists in La Liga (183), and many, many others. There's even an entire Wikipedia page dedicated to his achievements.
Despite all of this, Messi has not gone without controversy or criticism in his career. In 2016, both him and his father were found guilty of tax fraud. Meanwhile, he has never seemed overly enthusiastic to represent Argentina on the national stage, drawing criticism from back home when that has led to no trophies. His latest controversy includes wanting to leave Barcelona until President Josep Bartomeu stepped down.
Messi is undoubtedly one of the greatest players to ever live. In fact, there's a very strong argument for him to be number one. Regardless of which team one supports, they have to acknowledge how lucky they are to have seen him play through the years.
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Messi is also nicknamed 'Leo', which is short for Lionel.
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