EVERYTHING I’VE EVER ACHIEVED IN MY CAREER I OWE IT TO SACRIFICE, GIVING MY ALL, AND ALWAYS GRATEFUL FOR HAVING THE SUPPORT OF MY FAMILY.
CHILDHOOD
As a child I always had a football nearby. I liked every sport, but football was the one I liked the most. At home, everybody was crazy about football, my brothers, my cousins, everybody. We all played soccer, it seemed to be the most important thing in our lives At the age of four I was playing in my neighborhood’s team, then I went to the Grandoli Club1, which was nearby. At eight I landed in Newell’s club2, my brother Rodrigo was already playing for them and he was asked to get me there to play in the junior categories.
ACHIEVEMENTS
FIVE BALLON D'OR!
“They’ve all been special. The first one because it was the first. The second one was an extension, the confirmation. Each Ballon d’Or I’ve won has its specificity, its history. Cristiano deservedly won the last two. Now I’m very happy to win it again this year. I don’t think about how many more I can win. If I win another one, very well, but if that doesn’t happen, I don’t care. I’ve never been obsessed with this. The most important things are the collective trophies and I want to win them all.”
MORE INFOstats
GOALS:507
ASSISTS:194
TITLES:60
AWARDS:26
LEFT FOOT:408
RIGHT FOOT:74
best in the world
I appreciate that some people think of me as one of the best football players in the world but I try not to think about it. My old man used to give me a critique or two after every game, even if I scored four goals he’d always have some advice, and we always ended up laughing because I knew there were no reproaches, just things he considered I had to improve, dad stuff. I’ve always wanted to try to be better, it’s still one of my greatest motivations.I try to focus on keeping up my game, I am lucky to be in an spectacular team, a team that always fights hard and I’ll continue to enjoy all of this. Having nominees to the Ballon D’Or is a prize to the locker room, it shows what kind of players we have at Barcelona.I don’t care about personal awards, I am lucky to have won almost everything. What I care about is to keep winning with my club and Argentina, everyday I give everything to get more titles with Barcelona and win important things with Argentina. I hope it lasts for many more years.
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