Lionel Messi

Lionel Andres Messi is an Argentine international footballer currently featuring for the Spanish and European giants FC Barcelona. Messi is frequently considered as the greatest talent to have emerged in the sport of football after Diego Armando Maradona and is one of the best footballers on the player.

Lionel Messi was born in the Argentine city of Rosario and was soon snapped up by Newell's Old Boys. At the age of 11, Messi was diagnosed with a growth hormone deficiency that impeded him from growing.

Newell's were unable to afford the money required for the treatment of this disease which was about 500 pounds per month. Then FC Barcelona came calling. Not only did they look after Lionel Messi's probems, they also found work for his family in Barcelona and so came Messi to Spain.

Lionel Messi made his official debut for the Blaugrana against Espanyol Barcelona on October 16, 2004. He quickly progressed in the Barcelona first team and won the World Youth Championship with Argentina in 2005 and was adjudged as the best player in the competition.

From 2005-2006 season onwards, the Argentine wonderkid began to exhibit his class and quality. He threaded his way into the starting line-up that consisted of the likes of Ronaldinho, Xavi, Deco and Samuel Eto'o among others and quickly became one of the most popular and most significant members of the club.

He won La Liga title with Barcelona in th 2005-2006 season and was one of the best players in the UEFA Champions League that season. Barca actually won the coveted silverware that season.

Lionel Messi played for Argentina in the 2006 Germany World Cup and in the 2007 Copa America.

Lionel Messi scored one of the best goals of all time agaist Getafe in the first leg of their Copa del Rey tie in the 2006-2007 season. He dribbed around a host of players and scored in almost exactly the same way that El Diego had scored his second goal against England in the semi-finals of the 1986 World Cup.

Messi has consistently impressed with his intricate dribbling, sudden burst of pace, sharp shooting and humility.

Lionel Messi's major personal achievements include:

- Golden Ball: FIFA U-20 World Cup: 2005
- Golden Boot: FIFA U-20 World Cup: 2005
- Golden Boy: 2005
- World Soccer Young Player of the Year: 2006[43], 2007[44]
- Olimpia de Plata: Argentinian Player of the Year: 2005
- FIFPro World Young Player of the Year: 2006
- FIFPro World XI: 2007
- Best foreign player in La Liga: 2007
- France Football Player of the Year: 3rd place: 2007
- World Soccer Footballer of the Year: 2nd place: 2007[48]
- FIFA World Player of the Year: 2nd place: 2007

Champions League draw: Chelsea vs FC Copenhagen

Chelsea will be facing FC Copenhagen in the last 16 round of the Champions league. The draw for the knockout stages of the Champions league has just finished and looking at the whole draw, it can be easily said that Chelsea are the real winners of the draw after being paired with the Danes, who are entering into this round for the first time. It seems that Chelsea's worst run of form and luck is finally over and Chelsea fans can look forward to rejoicing once again.

Chelsea had the possibility of drawing against Inter Milan, AC Milan and Carlo Ancelotti will be quite happy with the draw. He has said that it is a good draw, but the team has to be careful of FC Copenhagen since they put up a good show in the group stages. In fact, they were better than good as they finished just below Barcelona in their group. Also, given that this knockout stage will be happening played in February, Copenhagen will be very fresh going into the match as they will be just coming back from a two-month break. Meanwhile, Chelsea will be fighting on all fronts domestically and it is the only one thing that worries in an otherwise great draw.

Chelsea are without doubt the favourites and especially given the fact that the second leg is at Stamford Bridge only enhances the odds of the Londoners going through. UEFA has announced the dates for the match and the first leg of the tie will be on Tuesday 22 February, while the return leg will be at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday 16 March.

The Champions league draw for the last 16 round in full is:

FC Copenhagen v Chelsea
Marseille v Manchester United
Arsenal v Barcelona
AC Milan v Tottenham Hotspur
Roma v Shakhtar Donetsk
Valencia v Schalke
Lyon v Real Madrid
Inter v Bayern Munich

Kakuta Signs New Contract

Gael Kakuta has signed an extension to his contract, which was due to expire this season. Kakuta has signed a new four-and-a-half-year contract. He would have entered into the final six months of his contract and he would have been eligible to speak with other clubs after that. A number of clubs like AC Milan and Bayern Munich were set to be interested in him, but now Chelsea can enjoy the services of this 19-year-old French teenager for another 5 years at least. He is widely regarded to be the best talent at Chelsea, but has his talent been seen in actual games?

When Carlo Ancelotti arrived at Chelsea, he said that Gael Kakuta was the most talented teenager he had ever seen at this age. However, it seems that the likes of Josh McEachran and others seem to be ahead of him in the pecking order after poor displays in the matches that he started or was substituted in. He has so far started in five games for Chelsea, but he is yet to score a goal in those. I admit that it is very difficult to expect too much of him at this stage in his career, but seeing the likes of Josh McEachran play baffles me why Kakuta cannot deliver at the big stage.

Anyway, he has signed a new contract that will keep him at Chelsea till 2015 and there is plenty of time in which he can prove his worth and the lengths Chelsea went to sign him from Lens was not wrong.

'Since I signed for Chelsea when I was 16 all I was thinking about was to get to the first team. Now I have been playing a few times with the first team and I have signed for four-and-a-half more years I have to make a way for myself into the starting 11, and make my dream come true.’

Chelsea, meanwhile, have also signed another teenager from Feyenoord and not surprisingly, that has sparked a new controversy. It is reported that 15-year-old defender Nathan Ake has agreed to sign for Chelsea when he turns 16 in February and Feyenoord are reportedly unhappy with Chelsea.

Arsenal vs Chelsea: Match Preview, 27th Dec 2010

After a short winter break, Chelsea head into the Arsenal match with some confidence. It is a confidence that has come about as a result of the 1-1 draw with Tottenham a fortnight ago. Carlo Ancelotti has been speaking ahead of the match that he needs to see the Didier Drogba of last season. Well, we all got a taste of what Drogba can do when he is on form against Tottenham and hadn’t he missed the penalty against Spurs, Chelsea would have won the match.

Before the game, Carlo Ancelotti spoke about the need to win the game, but with Manchester United winning last night, Chelsea must surely win the game and failure to do so will probably put Chelsea out of the title race. The biggest boost for Chelsea is that Frank Lampard is back and it has been confirmed that he will start against Arsenal. There are some controversies regarding the postponement of the Manchester United game, but it remains to be seen if the postponement has had an effect on the team.

The biggest worry for Chelsea though, is that Cesc Fabregas and Robin van Persie are back for Arsenal, and they are the two main threats for the London rivals. The return of Cesc Fabregas also means that Samir Nasri will be looking to go beyond the last man hoping that a ball from the Spaniard will find him and more often than not, it does. Chelsea do have the history against Arsenal and have won the last five meetings without exception. Drogba has scored an impressive 13 goals in as many appearances against Arsenal and will he be scoring the 14th goal today?

My Prediction: Chelsea to win 2-0

Possible starting XIs

Arsenal (4-1-3-1-2): Fabianski, Squillaci, Clichy, Sagna, Koscielny, Arshavin, Song, Nasri, Fabregas, Van Persie, Chamakh.

Chelsea (4-3-3): Cech, Bosingwa, Terry, Cole, Ivanovic, Malouda, Lampard, Essien, Kalou, Drogba, Anelka.

Kick-off time: 20:00 BST

Arsenal v Chelsea is shown live on: Sky Sports 1 (UK), ESPN (India).