Messi and Everything Else

Lionel Messi'sinexorable rise - from a small boy in Rosario to all-conquering World Cupwinner and global superstar - is one of the greatest stories in sportinghistory. Told and retold over the decades of Messi's footballing dominance, ithas already become the stuff of legend. But this is not another chronologicalaccount of goals scored, trophies won and records broken. Instead, thiscompelling biography reveals the man behind the myth by focusing on the peopleand the moments that came to define Messi. Each chapter explores akey relationship - with Frank Rijkaard, Pep Guardiola, Diego Maradona, LionelScaloni and others - or a pivotal challenge, from leaving home for Barcelona asa teenager to overcoming career-threatening setbacks, tax troubles and theintense scrutiny he faced when he led Argentina, before he finally lifted theWorld Cup. Structured as a series of self-contained episodes so readers canbegin anywhere, Messi and Everything Else offers a unique way toexperience the footballing great's era-defining talent. Having interviewed Mession several occasions and watched hundreds of his matches in person, SergioLevinsky draws on more than twenty years of first-hand reporting to create anauthoritative, passionate and inventive portrait of an unmatched life. For football lovers andbiography readers alike, Messi and Everything Else presents Messi asyou've never seen him before.