Martín Souto: I have to ask you this. Have you ever fought with a team-mate?
Messi: Yes but not so we have come to blows. For me what is in the past stays in the past. It stays on the pitch. I can be cross for a day or two, but then it goes.
Martín Souto: But has it happened with a really close friend?
Messi: Yes. It happened with Pinto in a training session in a short game that they won, and then began to celebrate and we began to argue and fight. And he knows me and came up to me the day after, looked at me and we both started to laugh, and that was it.
(Leo Messi, interview with Martín Souto, TyC Sports, March 2013)
Incidentally, Pinto, Leo’s pal and protector, is a goalkeeper, like Oscar Ustari and Juan Cruz Leguizamón, two of his best friends. Leo has always felt at home with them, apparently more so than with the others. Maybe because they are all outsiders, or ‘different’ (el distinto), as they were described in the book about Messi published by Olé in 2013.
In any case, the tension on the pitch, the footballing disputes, came about once again because of the absence of leadership. The boy who had made such great efforts to get to the highest level now faced another challenge: how to handle success. The struggle hadn’t stopped, it had just changed.
The year finished with two great pieces of news for Messi: on 2 November his son Thiago was born, Leo and Antonella’s first child. At exactly 17.14, fourteen minutes past five in the afternoon Twitter went nuts: first because of the good news, and because the time of birth, 1714, is the year of the Catalan defeat by the Spanish Bourbons in the War of Spanish Succession, and in honour of which the national day of Catalonia is commemorated.
And, secondly, Leo renewed his contract.
After a telephone call Leo gave the go-ahead for a contract renewal that was announced at the same time as those of Xavi and Puyol, with a view to sending out a message of dressing-room harmony. The two senior players and the star of the side were pledging their futures to the club. Jorge Messi had received – and rejected – a sensational offer from a Russian club willing to pay €400 million for his son; Leo would have received €32 million a year.
He had renewed his contract on two occasions with Guardiola, and now signed a new one with Tito until 2018. The buyout clause of €250 million stayed in place, his fixed wage rose to €13 million net (€22 gross) and he received a bonus of €3.2 million a year for playing 60 per cent of matches.
Barcelona, despite doubts about their style, continued on a steady path in the league, while in Madrid the climate of tension and mistrust grew; the wheels had well and truly come off just a few months after the eternal rivals had won the league.
But, head to head, José Mourinho had evolved a tactical plan for his team that made Leo’s contribution more difficult. Leo had equalled Alfredo Di Stéfano’s record of 18 goals in clásicos, but the blancos’ high defensive line was choking him and keeping him away from goal. Madrid knocked Barcelona out of the cup after a 1–1 draw at the Bernabéu, followed by a 3–1 victory at the Camp Nou.
According to Diego Torres in his book, Mourinho instructed his players to tap Messi on the face, an action which, the Portuguese had learned, infuriated him. Alvaro Arbeloa and Xabi Alonso did just that, to the astonishment of Leo, who looked to the linesman flabbergasted.
At the end of the game there was the leaking of an alleged incident that took place with Mourinho’s loyal assistant, Aitor Karanka (apparently Leo said to him, ‘What the f— are you looking at, you Mourinho puppet?’), and also with Arbeloa to whom he crossed over and said, ‘What are you looking at you, you clown? I’ll be waiting for you in Barcelona.’
In a post-match press conference, José Callejón, one of Mourinho’s players, explained: ‘I saw the thing with Aitor because I was coming up behind him. Maybe it’s normal that we’re all a bit wound up on the pitch and we say things that we regret later. But a fellow professional waiting an hour, to an hour and a half, to abuse another professional who was with his wife is over the top.’
Barcelona had left the stadium 45 minutes after the end of the game and eyewitnesses claim that Leo was heading for the bus when Arbeloa came out in his car, but that no conversation took place. Paco García Caridad, the prestigious journalist for Madrid newspaper Marca, said on air and on Twitter: ‘the attempt to discredit Messi leans toward the grotesque. Who leaks these things that Messi is supposed to have done? Mou? His number two? Do we know who the leak is? Now, do we have to besmirch Messi’s image?’ The object of the exercise was nonetheless clear: to add fuel to a campaign that had begun months earlier, coinciding with Messi’s words with Villa, and designed to discredit him even more.
In any case his goals and the consistent performances of Iniesta were disguising the deficiencies that were beginning to threaten the team. Injuries to Xavi and Puyol, two of the senior players, had left them weaker, while another, Víctor Valdés, had told the club that he would be leaving at the end of his contract, in the summer of 2013. Training sessions lacked intensity, players became angrier when not selected. On the pitch the lines weren’t coming together and teams were scoring against them too easily. Barcelona conceded goals in thirteen games on the trot. It had all become routine and was lacking precision and tactical cohesion.
Then it was April, the most important stage of the season, the one in which titles are decided. Ramón Besa summed up in El País what the team lacked. ‘What’s needed is to close the gym and the clinic, take the roll call at training and rediscover the culture of trying harder.’
During those weeks Leo did not look happy. ‘Day-to-day he looks normal, he looks fine,’ said Dani Alvés in El Mundo around that time. ‘But I’m no hypocrite, I don’t paint over things. It’s quite clear that in the past few games his morale has been low. Why? I don’t know, I haven’t tried to find out. I only want to know what people want to share with me. And if someone doesn’t want to share their life, or how they are living it, who am I to ask? I respect his space. But I have noticed that he is a bit more down than usual.’
Despite his enormous effectiveness in the league, where he managed to score in 19 consecutive games and 38 times in 25 matches, Messi was invisible in the Cup clásicos, and again when they met AC Milan in the away leg in the last 16 of the Champions League, where a 2–0 defeat exposed Barcelona’s shortcomings.
Marcelo Sottile, assistant secretary of the newspaper Olé, skilfully explained the team mood. ‘Barcelona seem to be a depressed team. The mirror doesn’t reflect the image of the best, the most beautiful. Now you just see eleven dispirited faces; little individual inspiration; little tactical awareness from the bench, and not even much physicality – a product either of tired legs or tired minds – that can change the rhythm and overcome the strategies of Milan and Madrid, who have both beaten them with organisation and a lot of football.’
Leo exercised his leadership and declared on ESPN: ‘The team is a little lacklustre. We’ve had some bad results and now is the time to pick ourselves up, to believe in ourselves, to do the same things we have been doing for years.’
12 March 2013. Champions League last 16 second leg. Barcelona 4–0 Milan
Barcelona: Valdés; Alvés, Piqué, Mascherano (Puyol, 77th minute), Alba; Xavi, Busquets, Iniesta; Messi; Pedro (Adriano, 83rd minute) and Villa (Alexis, 75th minute). Subs not used: Pinto; Cesc, Song and Tello.
Milan: Abbiati; Abate, Mexès, Zapata, Constant; Montolivo, Ambrosini (Muntari, 60th minute), Flamini (Bojan, 75th minute); Boateng, Niang (Robinho, 60th minute) and El Shaarawy. Subs not used: Amelia; Bonera, De Sciglio and Nocerino.
Goals: 1–0. 5th minute: Messi, just inside the area. 2–0. 39th minute: Messi, from the edge of the area. 3–0. 55th minute: Villa cross-shot finish from Xavi pass. 4–0. 92 minute: Jordi Alba after counter-attack following a pass from Alexis.
Ramón Besa, El País: It won’t be Milan singing a requiem to Messi’s Barcelona, half-colossus, half-warrior, at times aesthetic, other times epic, always there
on an immense night. The best victories often come after the worst defeats. The number 10 destroyed one of the best organised defences in the world. Messi’s reign is that of a benevolent dictatorship, with gratitude and kindness which was sweeter than ever last night. Around the number 10, Barcelona played a majestic game, well organised from both an emotional and tactical point of view, played with the head and feet, well seen by the coaches and players, cheered by the enthusiastic faithful. Extraordinary in their pressure, Barcelona played the game in the Milan half. Martí Perarnau: Every piece returned to where it should be, not where they have been finishing up in previous weeks. Each to his own and no one in anybody’s space.
They needed a comeback at the Camp Nou in the return leg.
But it would prove to be the club’s swansong.
Around this time Leo was asked on Barça TV if he needed to rest since he was playing every game. ‘It’s good for me to accumulate playing time because that way I don’t lose my rhythm,’ was his reply.
2 February 2013. Next round of the Champions League, quarter-finals against PSG, with Tito Vilanova in the dugout. Messi, who had scored the first goal of the game, feels a pull in his right leg and is substituted at half-time. Juanjo Brau has taught him to listen to his body and he asks to be substituted. Ibrahimović equalises ten minutes from the end. The game finishes 2–2 after Xavi’s penalty in the eighty-ninth minute and an error from Valdés in time added on.
3 April 2013. Medical tests reveal a tear of the femoral bicep. The muscle used for sprints and changes of pace once again. Messi is ruled out of the next game against Mallorca.
10 April 2013. Messi is on the bench for the return leg against PSG. The French take the lead with a goal from Pastore: they play with speed and courage and frighten Barcelona. In what looks like a reflex action following the scoring of the goal, Messi pulls his socks up, watching and waiting from the bench: his participation is part of the plan if things are not going well, although, quite clearly, his injury needs far longer to heal.
He comes onto the pitch twelve minutes after the goal.
The technical staff stick their own El Cid on the back of the horse.
Frightened, PSG retreat.
‘The number 10 eliminated PSG with one play, one touch, one pass and one chance. Imperious for an hour, the French side surrendered at the very sight of Messi. Beaten, lost, vanquished, the azulgrana felt invincible for half an hour with their number 10,’ wrote Ramón Besa.
‘It’s the Leo effect,’ says Cesc Fàbregas. ‘He came on for me, and just by him coming onto the pitch the crowd’s spirits were lifted.’
‘When he came on, we all felt bigger, stronger,’ admitted Piqué.
‘It’s a bit of what Leo creates,’ said Mascherano. ‘They were dominating us, we were about to be eliminated from the competition: and he comes on, on one leg, manages to draw three players and makes the play for Pedro to finish. On one leg!’
The goal from Pedro earns a 1–1 draw and passage into the semi-finals of the Champions League.
11 April 2013. Further tests on Messi reveal that, despite playing against PSG, the injury has not been aggravated.
23 April 2013, Champions League semi-final first leg. Bayern 4–0 Barcelona
Bayern: Neuer; Lahm, Boateng, Dante, Alaba; Martínez, Schweinsteiger, Robben; Müller (Pizarro, 82nd minute), Ribéry (Shaquiri, 89th minute) and Gómez (Luiz Gustavo, 71st minute). Subs not used: Tarke; Van Buyten, Rafinha and Tymoshchuk.
Barcelona: Valdés; Alvés, Piqué, Bartra, Jordi Alba; Xavi, Busquets, Iniesta; Alexis, Messi and Pedro (Villa, 83rd minute). Subs not used: Pinto; Montoya, Abidal, Cesc, Thiago and Song.
Goals: 1–0. 25th minute: Müller, from a corner. 2–0. 49th minute: Mario Gómez, from another corner. 3–0. 73rd minute: Robben shoots across Valdés. 4–0. 82nd minute Müller finishes from an Alaba cross.
Ramón Besa, El País: The azulgrana Champions League journey has been a ‘way of the cross’ that has found its salvation at the Camp Nou, until yesterday when Barcelona were crucified in Munich. The feeling is that the team has been consuming itself before falling vanquished, going backwards along Bayern’s exuberant road. No club today plays as well as Barcelona used to. Especially not Barcelona themselves. It’s not worth waiting for Messi to get better and save the situation, so timid is this Barça. You don’t limp to victory against Bayern.
Luis Martín, El País: Messi was on the pitch but he didn’t play. The official UEFA statistics show that Messi had one shot throughout the whole match, but the memory that millions of people will be left with will be of a night when we saw la Pulga turn up, but not play. Of the 11 occasions he had to go on runs, only two came off.
23 April 2013. Messi rests for three matches and is in the starting line-up against Bayern (4–0). It’s the time to find out whether or not the self-management plan has worked.
Defeat is unavoidable and confirms the team has lost its competitiveness.
27 April 2013. Leo plays for half an hour against Athletic Bilbao, provides an assist for Alexis and scores an extraordinary goal. In the tightest of spaces he gets away from his opponents, who seem to appear from everywhere but are unable to stop him before shooting from the edge of the area with a placed shot, accurate and out of goalkeeper Gorka Iraizoz’s reach. ‘How did he do that?’ asks Athletic’s Ander Herrera. ‘He had his back to me and he just did a tremendous turn. I was marking him and he just went. Next time I see him I’ll ask him to explain it to me properly.’ Claudio Vivas, assistant to Marcelo Bielsa with the Basque side, saw something more than just an accurate shot. ‘The frustrations of the season were all reflected in that goal.’
Barcelona draw the game 2–2.
But muscular injuries are very delicate, and can be quite treacherous. Was it the correct decision to play against Athletic with the league so close? Wouldn’t it have been better to take a chance with a game of greater importance, to save him for the return leg of the Bayern semis? Did he get injured again at the San Mamés? The staff and the player took the decision for him to play to get back to match fitness.
30 April 2013. Leo Messi announces: ‘We need the Camp Nou to be a pressure cooker. We will only be able to get close to the comeback if we all believe in it.’
1 May 2013: An hour before kick-off a rumour circulates that Messi will not be in the starting eleven.
Vilanova justifies Leo’s absence, explaining that he had felt something strange at the end of the game at Bilbao. ‘On Monday he didn’t train and this morning, after training, after talking to the doctors and the physios, I spoke with him when he arrived at the hotel. Given how he was, there was a risk that it would break. And he didn’t feel comfortable and, in that condition, he was not able to help the team.’ Leo sat on the bench just in case Tito needed to risk him for a place in the final.
5 May 2013. Match against Betis. Messi reappears in the hour of need. He comes off the bench in the fifty-sixth minute, with the score at 2–2. He soon makes his presence felt and scores twice on a difficult night for Barcelona (4–2). This is, without doubt, Messi’s league.
1 May 2013. Champions League semifinal second leg. Barcelona 0–3 Bayern
Barcelona: Valdés; Alvés, Piqué, Bartra (Montoya, 86th minute), Adriano; Song, Xavi (Alexis, 55th minute), Iniesta (Thiago, 65th minute); Pedro, Cesc and Villa. Subs not used: Pinto; Dos Santos, Messi and Tello.
Bayern Munich: Neuer; Lahm (Rafinha, 76th minute), Boateng, Van Buyten, Alaba; Javi Martínez (Tymoshchuk, 74th minute), Schweinsteiger (Luiz Gustavo, 66th minute), Müller; Robben, Ribéry and Mandzukic. Subs not used: Starke, Dante, Shaqiri and Gómez.
Goals: 0–1. 48th minute: Robben. 0–2. 72nd minute: Piqué (og). 0–3. 7th minute: Müller.
Ramón Besa, El País : Goodbye Europe. Barcelona’s departure from Europe was so humiliating that it will be difficult to raise spirits high enough to sing the ‘alirón’ [the song sung after winning a major tournament]. So as to give La Liga its due importance, perhaps even too
much, it caused serious weakness in Europe. Uncompetitive from the start and even less after the changes. Public ridicule has been major from start to finish, away and at home, with or without Messi. Barcelonismo accompanied its team en masse up to the gates of the Camp Nou when they found out that Leo wasn’t playing. Some season ticket holders wanted to go home, feeling surprised, ripped off and deceived. No one believed in the game or the comeback. Supporters were stunned to see the number 10 on the bench. His injuries have become as big a mystery to the observer as his play to defences: all that was known up till this game was that he never hid himself away and was capable of playing on one leg. The management of Messi’s injury is worrying.
12 May 2013 Leo goes off in the sixty-seventh minute of the match against Atlético de Madrid in the Vicente Calderón, after once again feeling a niggle in the femoral bicep of his right leg. Tito has already made three changes so Barcelona play the rest of the game with ten men. Barcelona nonetheless win 2–1.
So what was going on with Messi’s injury?
Leo knows his body well and also his Achilles heel – the injury to the femoral bicep. He knew that he was doing something that was working against his recovery, but the team’s need made him push himself to the limit. The same injury in a player who doesn’t need explosive pace, who has less muscle wear and tear, can clear up in two weeks, but Leo has physical characteristics that rely on a very high usage of muscular energy.
Since tearing the muscle in the away leg at PSG, Messi had undergone treatment with Juanjo Brau that did not correspond to the injury – he should have had different work on it and much more rest. The two of them dedicated between seven and eight hours a day to getting fit for the game that was being played eight days later. They were never in any rush to go home. The objective of the exercise was that he should be able to play at least 15 minutes and 35 in the best-case scenario.
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