Every goal is for Celia

Out of the 730 goals he has scored in his entire career, even the ones he's scored in friendlies and his La Masía days, all of them have been dedicated to Messi's maternal grandmother, Celia Olivera de Cuccittini.

She was born on May 26th 1930, daughter to Pedro Olivera and Emilia. Later, at 31, she had a daughter called María Celia Cuccittini, who then, alongside Jorge Messi, had a son (as well as 3 other siblings) called Lionel Andrés Messi Cuccittini. She was Messi's main inspiration for becoming a footballer all the way back in 1992 when he first joined Grandoli (he entered the club thanks to Celia's efforts).

Unfortunately, she died in 1998 when Messi was still at Newell's Old Boys, and this obviously meant a lot to Leo. After all, the biggest supporter of his dreams had just gone away, so it wasn't going to be easy to continue.

But nevertheless, he continued, finishing his time at Newell's Old Boys, going to Barcelona in mid-2000, and continued his career there until today.

Now, every time he scores a goal, he points both of his index fingers to the sky to dedicate it to Celia, the person who introduced him to the sport who he's now the greatest at, and the first person to believe in his abilities.

How it all started

One certain day, back in 1992, inside Club Abanderado Grandoli's stadium, Messi could be seen hitting the ball to the wall and receiving it himself in the stands, a common practice when having the ball alone. Leo had been attached to the ball back when he was only 3 years old in fact. The club was not far away from Messi's home, as there was only a 1.5 Km difference between them.

On that certain day, Grandoli had one less man, so their coach, Ricardo Aparicio, decided to approach Celia, Messi's mother, to ask her if he could play him. She was reluctant, citing the difference of age, height and his lack of experience, but his grandmother pushed the decision of making him play, and that's what happened.

According to what Aparicio said, the first ball he received went to the side of him and he watched it go, but the second time he received the ball, he received it with his left foot and dribbled past everyone, making a statement of how good he was early on. And as a fun fact, after Aparicio, his father Jorge Messi was Grandoli's coach.

People were saying that the new Maradona had been born, and Messi certainly met his expectation as his team usually won by a big difference and with a lot of goals coming from him as well, although Ramon Min, a Dutch sportswriter admin of @MessiStats_ has only been able to collect 5 goals from his time at Grandoli.

He also won a few trophies in Grandoli, one of them being this one:

One day, his father couldn't pay the entry, and therefore couldn't enter the stadium, so that would be the last time Messi wore Grandoli's shirt. After that, he moved to Newell's Old Boys, having a wonderful run, and after moving to Barcelona in September of 2000, the rest, as they say, is history.

Messi before signing for Barcelona

In Barcelona, Messi achieved everything for what he is known for today (aside from his national team of course). But we also know that Messi once played for Newell's Old Boys, a team from his own province which he was a fan of. Today's blog will be dedicated to his time at Newell's Old Boys, looking at stats and other things as well.

Between 1992 and 1993, Messi played for a team called Abanderado Grandoli FC. Even when he was only 5 to 6 years old, his talent was easily recognizable. People said that Grandoli had "The Next Maradona", and even people not connected to the club watched Grandoli's games to see Messi play.

After leaving Grandoli for Newell's Old Boys in 1994, his debut was against Pablo VI on April 9th, 1994. Newell's won that game 6-0 with 4 goals coming from Messi, showing more of his incredible potential. That year, he would score 40 goals in only 29 games.

In 1995, he decreased to 36 goals in 30 games, but a fantastic thing happened as, although he got locked in a bathroom due to a damaged lock, he ended up breaking the glass and got to the pitch when his team was losing 1-0. He later scored a hat-trick and gave his team the victory and a bicycle as well, which was the prize for the winner. As a side note, he played and won in a tournament this year with Central Córdoba. In the same year, he scored an amazing volley goal which included a sombrero on an opponent beforehand,

In 1996, he bagged 36 goals in 27 games. He also met Antonela in this year, which would later evolve into a romantic relationship.

In 1997, he scored 40 goals in 36 games. He also made his international debut in Peru, on a tournament called "Copa de la Amistad", which he won and made a great performance in the final.

In the year 1998, he got a low 27 goals in 25 games. There is not much to detail in this year unfortunately.

Finally, in 1999 he got an all-time high of 55 goals in only 29 games, nearly two goals per game. One of his recorded goals that year was one where he dribbled past a player with the touch of his heel and later shoots to the far post for a great goal. There was also his performance against El Torito, a game where he won 4-3 with a goal from himself. This would be his last year at Newell's Old Boys before he moved to Barcelona.

This great video compiles Messi's highlights before signing for Barcelona. As we can see, he was destined to be the greatest from the very start.