Lionel Messi shares about his life and aspects of his life, his personality, from the days of playing football on the streets in Rosario…
Lionel Messi gave Ole a lengthy interview on many issues. Photo: Ole
With the permission of coach Ronald Koeman and Barcelona’s leadership, Lionel Messi’s 2020-21 season ended earlier than his teammates. He has more time to rest to prepare for the 2021 Copa America with the Argentina team.
The 33-year-old superstar recently gave an interview to Ole Argentina, looking back from his childhood days in Rosario to his first steps in a foreign land…
The kid plays soccer with the big boys.
Messi’s football story began on the streets of Rosario, with his fanatical grandmother convincing his coach to let him play against an older team.
Grandmother Celia was Messi’s first “agent”. Photo: Inside Story
“A team of older brothers was short and my grandmother, who knew the coach, told him to pick me,” Messi said. “‘No, how can that be, look at the boy, you’re not crazy, they’ll hurt him’, but she said ‘let him in, let him play. And of course, I got in, did a few things and from there…
“Get him some shoes, I’ll take him to practice next week. She told him and that’s where it all started.”
However, even before his grandmother did an excellent job as an agent, Messi was already playing with the ball, with great influence from his family.
“When I was four or five years old, I was playing with a ball, as soon as I could walk. I had cousins and we always played together. From a young age, football was always at my feet and at four years old, I started playing in clubs, and on the streets whenever I could.”
Arriving in Barcelona, hardship and homesickness
A few years later, there was a call from Barcelona and Messi ‘s relationship with the Catalan club began with the eagerness but hardship of a young boy.
Messi arrived in Barcelona in 2002. Photo: Inside Story
“To be honest, it was a difficult decision, even though it was quick. I didn’t hesitate, I didn’t think much about it, but it was difficult because when I arrived I couldn’t play because of some paperwork issues, then when I started I got injured again.
I took almost a year off from competing. I was still training but it wasn’t the same as competing. Then I was lucky that everything happened very quickly from there.”
After a rough start things settled down but for a young man living so far away from his family and returning after visits home was a bittersweet experience.
“I always cry when I return to Rosario, wanting to stay and not wanting to. I want to go to Barcelona to continue, but at the same time it’s hard to leave everything behind.
I lost a lot of friends, communication was difficult… Nowadays, any 13 or 14 year old has a phone but back then it wasn’t like that, I lost contact with a lot of people because of information and distance”.
The mask
Messi rose quickly at La Masia, breaking into the first team at a young age. But something happened to him while he was still playing in the youth ranks. After breaking his cheekbone, Messi had to play in the Copa Catalunya final wearing Carles Puyol’s protective mask. Messi was only 14 or 15 at the time, and it was still too big.
Messi reused the mask that his senior Carles Puyol used. Photo: Barcelona
“I’ve trained with it a few times, fought for 5 minutes but couldn’t stand it, it was too big for me to stay on my face.
I took it off and threw it away, kicked it around for a while, I think I scored two goals and we won 3-0. And they took me off after 30 minutes.”
Messi also recalled his father’s anger at the coaches for letting him play without a mask, but at the time, he just wanted to play football without caring about the risks.
Children and normal life
Nearly two decades later, the Blaugrana star is now married with children who he spends a lot of time with.
“I’m lucky to be with the kids almost all day. I can take them to school, pick them up, take them to soccer games and other activities and I love that. What I enjoy most is waking up, having breakfast with them… although sometimes you want to be mad at them,” he added, laughing.
The Argentine star spends a lot of time with his family. Photo: Twitter
With three kids, Messi’s family doesn’t have much time to go out, but he enjoys meeting and becoming friends with other parents. It allows him to live a normal life.
As a global star, the hardest thing for Messi is going out to play, finding peace is hard work, sometimes even crazy.
Messi’s fame also brought a lot of attention to his two boys Thiago and Mateo, with the older one being shy and not liking to be recognized, while the younger one didn’t care.
In addition to issues such as regretting not asking to exchange shirts with big stars like Ronaldo and Roberto Carlos when he was young or deciding not to grow a beard since Copa America 2016, when Barca this season did not win La Liga and disappointed in the Champions League , Messi said that, in a difficult period for the club, with many young players and new elements, winning the King’s Cup is a remarkable achievement.
