Lionel Messi among Time's 100 most influential people

April 22, 2011 • • min read

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New York-based Time Magazine has named Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi in the 2011 TIME 100, the magazine's annual list of the most influential people in the world. Barcelona are a good choice to use this bet365 bonus code on as they march on to third consecutive league title. And the impact of their best player has been noticed outside football.


Photo: Getty Images

"He reminds me of Diego Maradona, the way he dribbles past people, the way you can kick him and he'll just bounce up and carry on running with the ball, then score a goal — it's ridiculous," former Barça star Thierry Henry wrote in a profile for Time.

The Time 100 list, now in its eighth year, recognizes the innovation, activism and achievement of the world's most influential individuals.

This year list includes pop culture giants such as Justin Bieber and Oprah Winfrey plus the lesser known Wael Ghonim, an Egyptian Internet activist who helped topple President Hosni Mubarak, and Takeshi Kanno, a Japanese doctor who refused to leave behind victims of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

"We've always, always tried to tell stories through people. We discovered it was a fantastic way to get people to think about what's going on all over the world," said Time Deputy Managing Editor Michael Elliott.

World leaders such as US President Barack Obama, British Prime Minister David Cameron, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff populate the list for how they have wielded power.

Also included in the 100 people this year are Myanmar's pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, Britain's Prince William and his fiancee Kate Middleton, and Kim Jong-Un, North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il's third son and heir apparent.

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