Lionel Andres Messi was born on 24 June 1987 in Rosario, the third of four children of Jorge Messi, a steel factory manager, and his wife Celia Cuccittini, who worked in a magnet manufacturing workshop. On his father's side, he is of Italian and Spanish descent, the great-grandson of immigrants from the northcentral Adriatic Marche region of Italy and Catalonia, and on his mother's side, he has primarily Italian ancestry. Growing up in a tight-knit, football-loving family, "Leo" developed a passion for the sport from an early age, playing constantly with his older brothers, Rodrigo and Matias, and his cousins, Maximiliano and Emanuel Biancucchi, both of whom became professional footballers. At the age of four he joined local club Grandoli, where he was coached by his father, though his earliest influence as a player came from his maternal grandmother, Celia, who accompanied him to training and matches.

Messi's place in Argentina's Copa America Centenario squad was initially put in jeopardy when he sustained a back injury in a 1-0 friendly win over Honduras in a pre-Copa America warm-up match on 27 May 2016. It was later reported that he had suffered a deep bruise in his lumbar region, but that he would remain in Martino's squad for the tournament, although he was later left on the bench in Argentina's 2-1 opening win over defending champions Chile on 6 June due to concerns regarding his fitness. Although Messi was declared match-fit for his nation's second group match against Panama on 10 June, Martino left him on the bench once again; he replaced Augusto Fernandez in the 61st minute and subsequently scored a hat-trick in 19 minutes, also starting the play which led to Sergio Aguero's goal, as the match ended in a 5-0 victory, sealing Argentina's place in the quarter-finals of the competition; he was elected man of the match for his performance.  On 18 June 2016, in the quarter-final of the Copa America against Venezuela, Messi produced another man of the match performance, assisting two goals and scoring another in a 4-1 victory, which enabled him to equal Gabriel Batistuta's national record of 54 goals in official international matches. This record was broken three days later when Messi scored in a 4-0 win in the semi-final of the Copa America against hosts the United States; he also assisted two goals during the match as Argentina sealed a place in the final of the competition for a second consecutive year, and was named man of the match once again.  During a repeat of the previous year's final on 26 June, Argentina once again lost to Chile on penalties after a 0-0 deadlock, resulting in Messi's third consecutive defeat in a major tournament final with Argentina, and his fourth overall. After the match, Messi, who had missed his penalty in the shootout, announced his retirement from international football. Sources reported that other Argentine players - Sergio Aguero, Javier Mascherano, Gonzalo Higuain, Lucas Biglia, Ever Banega, Ezequiel Lavezzi and Angel Di Maria - could follow their captain in retiring from international football. Chile coach Juan Antonio Pizzi said after the match, "My generation can't compare him to Maradona that's for my generation, because of what Maradona did for Argentine football. But I think the best player ever played today here in the United States." Messi finished the tournament as the second highest scorer, behind Eduardo Vargas, with five goals, and was the highest assist provider with four assists, also winning more Man of the Match awards than any other player in the tournament (3); he was named to the team of the tournament for his performances, but missed out on the Golden Ball Award for best player, which went to Alexis Sanchez.

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