2. MESSI’S BACKGROUND Leo Messi is 28 years old right now and he was born in Rosario, Argentina but later he became a citizen of Spain. He was born on June 24, 1987 and he is married with Antonella Ruccuzzo and they have a son named Thiago Messi. He is quick and he is unstoppable – Lionel Messi is a playmaker in its best terms. Presently captain of Argentina’s national football team, Messi has become the world’s best soccer player, with a typical talent and record-breaking performances. This extraordinarily skilled player has some tough records by his side.

3. Career Summary To start off with, he is the only player with five FIFA Ballon d'Or awards and three European Golden Shoe awards. He also holds the Guinness World Records title for the most official goals in a calendar year (91), and for most goals scored in La Liga, a La Liga season (50). Having made his competitive debut as a 17 year old, Messi quickly established himself as a crucial player for the Barcelona club. Messi has in his belt 20 Player of the Year awards including FIFA World Player of the Year (1), World Soccer Player of the Year (3), Goal.com Player of the Year (2), UEFA Best Player in Europe Award (1), UEFA Club Footballer of the Year (1), FIFA U-20 World Cup Player of the Tournament (1), La Liga Player of the Year (3), La Liga Foreign Player of the Year (3) and La Liga Ibero-American Player of the Year (5).

4. His Actual Standing  Right now Leo Messi is an attacker that plays for F.C.Barcelona, gets paid 26.5 million euros a year and he trains at the Camp Nou, which is the stadium of the Barcelona.  Leo Messi won the Balloon d’Or four times in a row, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and for the fifth time in 2015. He was 21 years old when he won the first Balloon, then for four years in a row and when he was 27 last year, he won the fifth Balloon d’Or

6. Messi’s Pre Match Rituals  Lionel Messi imagines like he is dribbling and passing all the players of the opposite team right before the game starts, it’s his way to assure himself that he will thrive for success in that game that is about to start. So Messi uses imagery or visualization before the game which guarantees him that he will do the same thing in the game also. Also Messi believes in this technique because he keeps doing it every day before a soccer game starts and that what made him the best soccer player in the world, or at least that’s what he thinks.

8. Torres’s Background  Fernando “El Nino” Jose Torres Sanz was born in March 20, 1984 and he is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a striker for La Liga club Atlético Madrid, on loan from Serie A club Milan. Right now he 32 years old and trains at the soccer stadium of the Athletico Madrid squad which is called Vincente Calderon in Spain.  Torres has been described as having "an eye for the spectacular and is capable of world-class skill" and being a "technically proficient, highly successful striker". He has the ability to find himself in goal scoring positions, using his pace and vision to get in behind defenders.  Torres is currently married to Olalla Dominguez Liste and have three children: Nora, Elsa and Leo Torres.

9. Career Summary  Torres started his career with Atlético Madrid, progressing through their youth system to the first team squad. He made his first team debut in 2001 and finished his time at the club having scored 75 goals in 174 La Liga appearances. Prior to his La Liga debut, Torres played two seasons in the Segunda Division (Second Division) for Atlético Madrid, making 40 appearances and scoring seven goals.  Torres joined Premier League club Liverpool in 2007, after signing for a club record transfer fee of 50 million pounds. He was named in the FIFA WORLD XI in 2008 and 2009. Torres left the club in January 2011 to join Chelsea for a British record transfer fee of 50 million pounds, which made him the most expensive Spanish player in history. In his first full season at Chelsea, Torres won the FA Cup and the UEFA Champions League. The following season he scored in the final of the 2012-13 UEFA Europa League, helping Chelsea to win the competition for the first time.  Torres is a Spanish International and made his debut against Portugal in 2003. He has been capped over a hundred times and is his country's third highest goal scorer of all time. With Spain he has participated in six major tournaments; UEFA Euro 2004, the 2006 FIFA World Cup UEFA Euro 2008, the 2010 FIFA World Cup, UEFA Euro 2012 and the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Spain won the three tournaments from 2008 to 2012, with Torres scoring in the finals of both Euro 2008 and Euro 2012.

10. Pre – Match Ritual  Torres has a pre-match ritual of crouching on his haunches shortly before kick-off and staring down the pitch at the opposing goal. He explains it as a visualisation technique: “I try to see the goal and try to think where the ball is going.”

11. Sport Psychology Advice The reason why Fernando Torres wasn’t in his best shape as a player the last couple of years is because after he left Liverpool where he showed astonishing characteristics and performances, he was transferred to Chelsea Football Club and he just didn’t find himself there, then he got a lot of injuries, lost his self confidence and his career started to fail. According to my opinion, what would really help Torres regain his success as he had it in the past, is to start socializing and understanding the game of Atletico Madrid, the team that he is currently playing, and start slowly regaining his self confidence that he lost by not having a spot in the teams that he played after he left Liverpool. Torres should take couple of days off and think things through in order for him to get back in shape and be the amazing striker that he used to be. Only because Torres didn’t have a spot when he first came at Chelsea, it didn’t mean that he should’ve depress and lose his self – confidence, in contrary, he should’ve trained with player like Didier Drogba so they could combine together and play like a team.

12. Visualization Script  The technique or the ritual that Lionel Messi practices before he plays in a soccer game is visualization and the same thing should be practiced by Fernando Torres because Torres has had a lot of difficulties performing at his best the last couple of years.  The imagery or the visualization technique script involves recreating all the moments that made you feel special during a soccer game and lay down in the bed for 15 minutes and try to relive that moment. Try to remember the feelings that you had, the emotions that you felt and try to remember every voice, noise that you heard in that own very moment that made you feel special, what people were cheering for you, your teammates were saying at you and the things that you literally felt touching any part of your body in that moment. That will help to rise up at your best and highest level of performance and guarantee you the regaining of your lost self – confidence.

13. Stress Reduction Technique  One of the stress reduction techniques that could lead to stress relief is: Positive Thinking.  When you are talking to yourself, you should have positive thoughts so when you are self – talking, you will bring positivity in your life and in the things that you are about to do. Being negative in your life and having negative thoughts when you are self – talking, it will lead to pessimism, you being pessimistic which will cause failures to happen in your life and affect you and everyone that surrounds you.