Messi

To my dad who has started reading again
To my mum who is the strongest person I know
To Maribel, my good fairy

Contents

List of Illustrations

The smallest one is Leo (second row, l to r, fifth) age four with the children’s football team Grandoli. Behind him is coach Salvador Aparicio.

Age five (front row, l to r, second). Jorge, his dad, with the blue coat, was his coach for a season with Grandoli.

The great 87 generation. And the Game of the Mask.

The day of his debut with the first team, against Porto (16 October 2003). Yes, he was a bit lost.

Then he got on to the pitch and came to life.

Ronaldinho adopted Messi as his ‘brother’.

A man for the big occasion: Champions League final, 2009.

An extraordinary season. In 2009, Barcelona won everything.

One day his dad asked him to turn around and give time to his fans. He never needed to be told again.

The winning goal of the FIFA Club World Cup, 2009, in extra time. A very hard game.

Six titles out of six. The perfect year for Barcelona and Leo.

With Pep Guardiola, many of Leo’s habits changed. His physical preparation became more individually orientated. After two years of injury nightmares, he learned to listen to his body.

First Ballon d’Or, 2009. With his mum Celia, and his dad Jorge. The road there was arduous.

When Messi was 13, his mum had to leave Barcelona to look after the other half of the family who could not adapt to life in Barcelona. She is the centre of his world. Here he celebrates her birthday after yet another goal.

Messi cried the day Barcelona lost against Sevilla in the Cup . . . after having won every single title in the first year and a half with Pep. Every defeat is a little death.

After Ronaldinho left, the Catalans looked after Leo. They knew he was going to make them better, to help them win.

Man of the match, goalscorer of the 2-1 . . . at Wembley Leo Messi helped Barcelona win another Champions League.

His third Champions League win, but he only celebrated two.

In 2011, at Wembley, the world recognised he was not just something special. He was probably the best ever. Sir Alex Ferguson went out of his way to shake his hand.

Winning is the thing to do, but scoring against and beating Real Madrid makes the job special.

Pep had to understand how to talk to Leo. At first, fluent communication was not easy.

Always a pleasure to sign the Argentinian shirt, even though for years his compatriots did not believe in him.

The 2011 Club World Cup against Santos was the consecration of the Barcelona style.

On that day, Leo Messi asked Neymar to join Barcelona.

Lionel with his mother Celia (right) and Monica Fein, mayor of Messi’s home town Rosario, after being made Honorary Citizen on 30 December 2011. He is finally recognised at home.

Third Ballon d’Or. He wanted more.

He cries in silence. Even after having won everything, there are defeats that hurt too much.

And when he does cry, as he still does, he just wants to be in his own world. It is hard to deal with him then.

On the pitch at the last game with Pep Guardiola at the Camp Nou. Messi scored four goals and said goodbye to him on the pitch. ‘Thank you for everything, Leo,’ Pep told him.

Tito Vilanova was the first coach at the Barcelona academy to make him play in his current position. They met again in the first team and Leo backed him when he became first team coach. Seeing Vilanova getting ill was very hard for him.

He tries to live with what fame brings. But these are the moments he likes the least.

Commercially, it has taken a while for him to take off, partly because he wanted to be a player first, never a label.

Leo doesn’t play to please you, me or anybody. But he certainly appreciates the support.

Leo and a ball. A special relationship.

With Jose Manuel Pinto, a close friend who knows how to look after him.

Leo and Dad. Leo and his manager.

He prefers to be discreet off the pitch, but he has a strong personality that only those close to him can see.

He works with the Leo Messi Foundation to help kids. He started it after a visit to a ward with kids suffering from cancer which made him cry.

Nobody got this far.

His contract renewed again. The club wants to make sure he is always happy.

Leo and Barcelona. He gave the club lots. The club gave him lots. An excellent marriage.

Foreword

by Alejandro Sabella

I
was appointed national team manager after the Copa América in Argentina. The national side had been eliminated despite not losing a game: they drew twice and beat Costa Rica in the group phase, then drew with Uruguay in the quarter-finals, before losing on penalties. When a team with players of this quality and strength plays in a tournament of that nature, we all find it frustrating if they don’t end up as champions. Even when, as happened in this case, they do not lose a single game.

It is normal for the players to have a heightened sense of expectation at the beginning of a new era, with a new coach. We were coming at a low ebb, having failed to progress further in the Copa América. I felt there were conflicting feelings – despite the disappointment, we were sufficiently motivated to move forward with renewed optimism.

The first time I spoke to Leo was in Barcelona. It was in 2011, soon after my appointment. I set out to meet all the players who were playing for sides in Europe. My first stop was Portugal, followed by Barcelona. I didn’t know Leo personally, but I wanted to speak to him and to Javier [Mascherano], whom I had met before and who was the captain, to suggest that Leo should wear the armband of the national side. The main purpose of my trip was to introduce myself and to get to know the players, especially those I didn’t know, such as Leo, but the question of the team captaincy was important to me. I considered it essential for everyone to know Leo was the leader and that he would lead in his own natural
manner. It was vital that he should be recognised as such by the players.