One of the most memorable episodes of the 2014 FIFA World Cup awards ceremony is considered by many fans to be the stone, without a shadow of a smile, the face of the player who received the MVP prize of the tournament. Argentina captain Lionel Messi, whose team had just lost the final match to Germany, was inconsolable. Neither numerous titles, nor phenomenal technique, nor the “lucky” shirt with number 10, under which Messi has been performing for the past six years, helped him to win the World Cup.
Figures from Arsenal
Football, which can be considered modern, has been played since about the 70s of the 19th century. But for a long time, the players did without the numbers so familiar now, causing serious inconvenience not only to themselves, but also to the judges and the fans. The first to enter the field with numbers on their shirts were the players of the teams that are still considered trendsetters in British football - London's Arsenal and Chelsea. This extraordinary event for European football took place almost 100 years ago - on October 13, 1928. The goalkeeper then received the first number, the defenders and midfielders - from the second to the sixth, and the forwards, who initially had five people, from the seventh to the eleventh.
On the back - 30, 19, 10
The number under which the young native of Argentine Rosario Lionel Messi played for the local children's teams under the names "Grandoli" and "Newells Old Boys", the history of football is silent. Moreover, he did not play in them for a very long time, even in childhood he went with the whole family to the Spanish-Catalan Barcelona, to the academy of this famous club. But it is known that there the talented newcomer, who was distinguished not only by his small stature, but also by his phenomenal technique, was first given a T-shirt with number 30. Under him, Lionel made his debut in the youth team and the double. He changed this number, becoming the 19th, only after moving to the main squad of the "blue garnet", at the first opportunity he took the favorite of many star forwards and attacking midfielders "top ten".
There was a change at the very beginning of the 2008/2009 season, when the former idol of the Catalan fans and the winner of the top ten Brazilian Ronaldinho left Barcelona and moved for 25 million euros to the Italian Milan. Argentinian Messi, who already then claimed the status of the main star of the club, took the number that remained "ownerless" without hesitation. And he hardly regrets it. Indeed, in his first season in the Barça 10 uniform, the star striker not only won the championship and the Spanish Cup, but also became the winner and best striker of the European Champions League and the gold medalist of the club world championship. And at the end of 2009 he was awarded the prizes of the best football player in Europe and the world. With the same familiar top ten, Lionel Messi plays for the Argentine national team, leading it to victory at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing and to the silver medals at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
The heirs of Pele and Messi
The most famous footballer in the world, who also played under the tenth number, is the Brazilian Pele. Let this number, as the historians of football testify, he received quite by accident. But later the playing "top ten" became almost the prerogative of the main stars of world football, its recognized scorers and playmakers. In particular, it was with her that Messi's predecessor on the thrones of Argentine, Barcelona and world football, Diego Maradona, the French Michel Platini and Zinedine Zidane, the Italians Roberto Baggio and Alessandro Del Piero, the Brazilians Rivaldo and Romario, the Frenchman Ferenczuschka Pietane, achieved their main sporting successes. Gullit and many others.
The tenth number at the World Cup in his native Brazil was also played by Barcelona's rookie Neymar. But in a club from the capital of Catalonia, this number can get him no earlier than after Messi's departure. And not the fact that the elder. More recently, Lionel Messi became the father of a baby named Thiago. The gift to the newborn from the Pope was a membership card of the Newells Old Boys club and a personalized blue garnet shirt from Barcelona with the tenth, of course, number. Whether Thiago Messi will continue Lionel's stellar career and keep the number in the family, it will become clear in 15-20 years.
