With what he has achieved in the football world, superstar Lionel Messi deserves to be the greatest player of all time. However, there are still many stubborn anti-players who refuse to acknowledge the talent of the 2018 World Cup champion. One of the arguments that this group of people clings to is that Messi has been injected with growth hormones since he was a child, for many years. This is a substance considered doping at the present time.
Therefore, they think that Messi has benefited unfairly from other players. “It is one of the biggest doping frauds in history but it has not been punished”, a Messi anti-fan said. But is that really true? Let’s find out.
Messi’s rare disease and nightly injections
Messi was born with a congenital growth hormone deficiency. This affected the physical development of the Argentine superstar. At the time of his diagnosis, Messi was only 1m27 tall, about 10cm shorter than his peers.
Not to mention, Messi’s physique was also skinny. There was an anecdote that said that during that period, when Messi changed clothes with his teammates, he always turned around because he was self-conscious about his bony body.
The most effective treatment is to inject growth hormone into the body. It should be added that this treatment not only helps increase height but also helps patients solve many other problems such as pituitary gland function, skin and teeth problems as well as immunity.
“At first, my parents were the ones who gave me the injections when I was eight years old. I remember the injections were quite small. I didn’t feel any pain. After I learned to inject myself, I did it myself. I injected them into my legs every day,” Messi recalled.
The cost of this treatment is very expensive, up to $1,500 per month. For the first two years, Messi was covered by insurance. Newell’s Old Boys also contributed a sum. However, after that, Messi’s family still could not afford this amount. Luckily, Barca eventually signed a contract and paid for this amount.
This is clearly the wisest investment in Barca’s history. Thanks to that, they brought to the legendary Nou Camp stadium, the greatest in the club’s history.
Is Messi’s hormone injections cheating?
The answer is absolutely not!
Despite the fact that growth hormone injections are banned in sports, Messi is an exception. There are two reasons to prove this argument.
First, Messi stopped injecting growth hormone into his body a long time ago. It is unclear when the Argentine superstar actually stopped this treatment. However, Messi certainly stopped this a long time ago, certainly before turning professional.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) began testing for growth hormone use in 2004. The drug testing process at tournaments that Messi participated in was also extremely strict. Therefore, there is no way Messi could continue to use this therapy without being detected.
Second, Messi did not inject growth hormones into his body to cheat on the results, but to treat his illness as requested by his doctor. Messi also openly admitted that he had injected hormones into his body, without hiding it.
After treatment, Messi only has a height of 1m70, a figure considered short in the football world. This means that hormone injections do not create any significant physical advantages for Messi.
The owner of 8 Golden Balls lacks growth hormone. He simply supplements it to be like other normal people. If he does not do this, Messi may have many serious health problems.
“Being short is not a bad thing, especially in football. I don’t think much about height. Actually, I don’t like injecting foreign things into my body at all, but it’s a medical treatment,” Messi confided.
No amount of doping brought Messi to the top. The Argentine striker conquered the world with his outstanding talent.
