Football wizard Lionel Messi turns 28 9 Photos . Updated: 24 Jun 2015, 02:53 PM IST Livemint God of football, La Pulga, Messidona: Argentinian football star Lionel Messi has earned many titles in his stunning career. A look at the star player as he turns 28 1/9Messi was born on 24 June 1987 in Rosario, Santa Fe, Argentina. 2/9A young Messi with a trophy in hand. He started playing football at the age of five for Grandoli, a local club coached by his father Jorge Horácio Messi. 3/9In 1995 he became part of a local youth team that lost only one match in the next four years and became locally known as “The Machine of ‘87”, the year the team was born. 4/9A young Messi in the Argentinian under-20 team during the FIFA World Youth Championship semi-final soccer match against Brazil in 2005. Reuters 5/9Messi with his wife Antonella Roccuzzo on a vacation in Rio de Janeiro in 2010 when they were dating. AFP 6/9Enjoying family time with his parents and son. 7/9Messi displaying his paternal side in a rare picture with his son Thiago. AFP 8/9Receiving the FIFA Men’s World Player of the Year 2012 award during the FIFA Ballon d’Or 2012 Gala in 2013. Messi has won four Balon d’Or trophies till date, with many records in his name, including 86 goals in a calendar year. Reuters 9/9“Happy 28th birthday to the best player on the planet, Lionel Messi”—tweeted Messi’s club FC Barcelona on the player’s birthday.