by Luca Caioli
What does that mean?
‘He is a destabilising footballer, he can shake up a whole game with a single action. There are good footballers who are unable to do that over 90 minutes, whereas he’s capable of enthusing the crowd and his critics with a single dodge, a single feint. But we Argentines aren’t used to that. We’re used to great players who are the whole package, coordinated, who give their talent to the service of the team; that’s what Messi still has to learn.’
What does he have to learn?
‘He needs to understand that he is part of a whole, he has to share the ball, pass it more quickly, give the final pass and not just make it him versus the whole world. Because sometimes he gives the impression that he wants the ball all for himself and he doesn’t want to share it. He has time to learn and he needs a good teacher and great teammates. And he has them: in a great institution like Barcelona.’
Anything else he needs to learn?
‘He should be wary of marketing.’
In what sense?
‘He should never be thinking: if I don’t have a good game I won’t sell watches, or soft drinks, or whatever.’
Changing the subject … Messi and Maradona?
‘The comparison is inevitable because Maradona and Pelé are footballing paradigms, but it’s unfair. The comparison will be made at the end of Messi’s career, but it will never be correct.’
Why?
‘Because today’s players have more obstacles than twenty years ago. Football is faster and more physical. There are more matches, and there’s more information. We know everything about everything; it’s difficult for there to be surprises and exceptions. It’s a more complicated world.’
Yes, but aren’t there some similarities between the two?
‘Of course, some features are the same, like the speed or the quick dodge, but Messi’s is always in the same direction, whereas with Maradona you never knew if he was left-or right-footed.’
Will Messi surpass Maradona?
‘I hope he’s better than Maradona. It would be good for Argentine football, but first Messi needs to be champion of the world.’
What does the future hold for Messi?
‘It’s difficult to predict because the world of football is accelerating at a very dynamic rate. It moves at an incredible speed. Everything changes and evolves in a frenetic way.’
Chapter 11
Provisional licence
6 March 2001
The photo on his first Barcelona ID badge shows him with a plump face and a quiff. And a smile – that was soon to disappear because during the first few months of his new life on Catalan soil, things do not go very well for Leo. On 6 March, a few weeks after his arrival, the Federación Catalana provides him with a provisional players’ licence and the next day he is able to debut at the Amposta ground wearing the number 9 Blaugrana shirt (Catalan for ‘blue and claret’). He even scores a goal. But he is a foreigner and cannot play in any national competitions, which means he cannot join the children’s A team, which should be his team: instead he has to make do with the children’s B team, which plays in the Catalan regional league. To make matters worse, by March the teams are already formed and competing, and although he is good, it would be difficult – and unfair – to sacrifice one of the kids who has been playing since the beginning of the season in order to give Leo a place.
Another thing: Newell’s is not willing to make the necessary transfer arrangements so that Barcelona can enrol him in the Real Federación Española de Fútbol (Spanish Football Federation).
And that’s not all – there is worse still to come. On 21 April a Tortosa defender tackles him hard: the result is a fractured left leg. It is the first injury in Leo’s career. First he needs a splint, then a plaster cast and finally rehab – he won’t be able to play again until 6 June.
A week later it happens again. Another injury, this time while walking down the stairs – torn left ankle ligaments. Luckily this injury is less serious – he is out for three weeks.
The only good news on the medical front comes from all the tests and x-rays he was subjected to by the endocrinologists and the club medics. After studying his medical history and growth problems thoroughly, they decide that it is possible to wean him off the growth hormone treatment very gradually. A personalised exercise programme and controlled diet should help the youngster achieve a normal growth rate. Although, ultimately, he will still have to put up with daily injections for a few more years.
As for the rest, his Barcelona experience has started off on decidedly the wrong foot. So much so that by the end of the season, between one thing and another, Leo has only played in two official fixtures and one friendly tournament (excluding training matches). Add to that all the other problems that Leo and his family have had to face and things couldn’t really get much worse.
In brief: after staying at the Rallye Hotel, the Messi family move into an apartment on Carlos III avenue – so far so good. Adapting to the new school and new study programmes is more complicated. Leo is enrolled in the Joan XXII state school, in the Les Corts neighbourhood near the Nou Camp. He is still a child who has very little desire to study (he will not achieve level four of his obligatory secondary education, due to his increasingly numerous footballing obligations, among other reasons). Nonetheless, he does not create any problems for his teachers. He is serious, polite and always remains quietly in his corner.
If he manages at least to deal with the situation, by contrast the youngest in the family, María Sol, does not manage to acclimatise to the new way of life.
During the Spanish summer vacation, when they reunite again in Rosario, the family weigh up their options and reach some decisions. Jorge and Celia (who has had to return early to be with her sister, who has undergone an operation) decide that María Sol and the boys should stay in Argentina. They ask Leo what he wants to do. Does he want to return to Barcelona or go back to his old life in Rosario? The boy has no doubt in his mind. He makes it clear that he wants to succeed in Barcelona, there is no need to worry about him. And so, only five months after their arrival, the family is forced to divide in two. On one side of the ocean, Celia, María Sol, Matías and Rodrigo; on the other, Jorge and Leo.
The situation becomes even more difficult than predicted for Leo, who returns to Barcelona on 20 August, now fourteen years old. Summer is over, school and training are starting again. The transfer from the Argentine Football Association is not forthcoming, meaning that he can only play in tournaments and friendlies. There is nothing he can do except put maximum effort into his training sessions and direct all his energy and hope into the friendlies that he plays. It is an attitude noticed by the coaches and his cadet B team colleagues.
Luckily, transfer season begins at the end of the year and continues into the beginning of 2002. In December, Leo’s father signs his second contract, which supersedes the one signed in May and helps straighten a few things out – at least from a financial point of view, given that the family situation is not too wonderful due to late payments and bureaucratic problems. In the course of a few years, Leo will sign six contracts committing him to Barcelona FC, which, on the one hand, is testament to his incredible progression as a footballer; and on the other to changes in priorities and internal conflicts at the club. There are many such examples: from the director who gets annoyed because he has not been informed of the negotiations and throws the contract in the bin, to the one who would not stand for one kid costing the club so much money. Finally, in February, the FIFA documents arrive, allowing the Spanish FA to arrange Leo’s signing. And on 17 February 2002, almost a year after his arrival in Barcelona, Leo is permitted to enter the championship. He plays against Esplugues de Llobregat at the Can Vidalet ground. Messi only comes on after half-time, but adds three gems to the final scoreline of 1-14. Little more than a month later, on 29 March, Leo wins his first Barça title. With much elation, they win the league thanks to a 6-0 victory over El Prat. The bad days are over and the successes keep com
ing: the Thaygen tournament in Switzerland, and most importantly, the Maestrelli Trophy in Pisa, Italy, from 27 April to 7 May. The B team defeats everyone from Inter to Chievo to Brescia, they draw with Juventus and they knock out Parma in the final. Leo is crowned player of the tournament and suddenly finds his voice …
‘At first we thought he was mute,’ says Arsenal captain Cesc Fàbregas, who was his teammate at the time. ‘Then, thanks to PlayStation and that trip to Italy, we discovered that he knew how to talk.’
‘Until that moment,’ recalls Víctor Vázquez, another of the B-team champions, ‘he would always return to the dressing room, sit down in a corner, change, and leave without a word. In Italy he began to gain confidence.’ Particularly with Víctor, who nicknamed him ‘dwarf’. To get back at him, Leo would respond in lunfardo, Argentine slang. It was impossible to understand him. Coach Tito Vilanova agrees that the Maestrelli Trophy was an opportunity for Messi to spend time with his teammates, get to know them and overcome his shyness. ‘Because he wasn’t timid at all on the pitch,’ says Vilanova. ‘When he played it was like watching Maradona when he was his age.’
He gained not only the praise of his coach, but also the respect and sympathy of his peers. The 2001–02 season, which had not begun all that well, ended magnificently at home and away. In the end, victories over Madrid and Espanyol in the Villarreal and San Gabriel tournaments were the icing on the season’s cake.
By the 2002–03 season he was in the A team: 30 league games (he was the only player to play in every game), 36 goals (five more than Víctor, the striker), three hat-tricks, one four-goal match, and two titles (the Liga de División de Honor and the Copa Catalunya). And that was without counting trophies like the Ladislao Kubala Memorial Trophy, or the summer triangular tournaments.
Facts and figures help to summarise and evaluate the campaign begun by Leo at his mere fifteen years. He measures 1.62 metres, weighs 55 kilos and is the smallest on the team (the tallest, Gerard Piqué, measures 1.91m), although not quite the youngest (Ramón Massó Vallmajó does not turn fifteen until October). But he is a fundamental part of this talented team, led by Álex García. The only time he is unable to shine is during the Campeonato de España Cup. Neither he nor Frank Songo’o – son of Jacques, the ex-Cameroon goalkeeper from Metz and Deportivo de La Coruña – is able to play (although he still celebrates the victory with the others), because the rules state that only those born in Spain or with a Spanish ID card can play in this particular tournament. An issue which causes many problems and headaches in years to come.
Chapter 12
Puyol’s mask
Conversation with Álex García
The appointment is at the Nou Camp ice rink. The young professionals are playing. On the other side of the glass separating the cafeteria and the sports facilities there are some difficult exercises and one or two rather inelegant collisions. Álex García knows one of those exercises very well, albeit on a very different type of surface. At 42, he has a career as a midfield goal-scorer under his belt (he debuted in blue and claret on 5 December 1990, in the most famous team of all, the Dream Team), as well as nine years as a coach for the Barça youth team (where he coached Messi for an entire season). He currently coaches at Dinamo Tbilisi.
Let’s go back to the 2002–03 championship.
‘It was my second year as an A-team coach. I had a very talented group of kids. I had Cesc Fàbregas, Piqué, Víctor Vázquez and Leo …’
What was he like?
‘Very receptive, always attentive to everything, quiet, shy, reserved, with great class. He was a different type of player, when he got the ball he was unstoppable, he had a devastating sidestep. He would get annoyed on the pitch if you didn’t pass it to him, or if he didn’t do as well as he wanted, but he never argued over a referee’s decision or over a foul.’
And what was he like with the rest of the group?
‘Well, they looked after him a lot, they defended him because he was like their little brother and because the opposition always pounded him, so Piqué or Víctor would always be by his side. Everyone knew he was important to the team, that at any moment Leo could seal a match.’
And has he ever had any problems with you?
‘No, he really hasn’t. I knew that he was far from home, from his family, that he lived here with his father. I could imagine his nostalgia; sometimes I asked him about it, but he acted like nothing bothered him. He held everything inside. At fifteen years, Leo already knew what he wanted, he was conscious of the fact that he had an opportunity at Barça, he knew what it meant to make a sacrifice – both his sacrifice and his family’s, and he didn’t want to waste the opportunity he had been given. In terms of football, the only thing that displeased him – he never said anything but you could see it in his face – was playing out of position. I moved him all over the pitch so that he could develop all his skills. It was almost a given in the youth teams. So I played him as a midfielder, sometimes as a centre forward, or on the right or left wing. But he didn’t like it. Within a few minutes he would drift towards the centre behind the strikers. You couldn’t stop him.’
What can you teach to a kid like that?
‘I think he has introduced us to the street football style, “playground football”, as they say in Argentina – the dodge, the feint. We in turn have tried to instil in him our attacking kind of football, the Barça kind – getting the ball a lot, playing as hard as we can, going forward in only two or three touches, driving the ball towards the centre of the pitch and then pushing forward through the opposition’s half. Every player should be able to show off his talent.’
The best memory of that year …
‘There are many images of Leo going round in my head but the most incredible story is definitely the one about the mask.’
Let’s hear it.
‘It was the last game of the league: Barça-Espanyol at the Miniestadi. We only needed a draw to become champions. We were winning 1-0, when all of a sudden Leo clashed with a parakeet [Espanyol] defender. He lost consciousness momentarily and he was taken to hospital in an ambulance. They said he had a fractured cheekbone. Two weeks’ recovery. He couldn’t play in the Copa Catalunya, which was only two weeks later. The news saddened the whole team, who had just beaten Espanyol 3-1 and been crowned champions. Well … the first week passes and in the second the Barcelona medics tell us that Leo can train if he wears a protective mask. Two months earlier, first-team member Carles Puyol had suffered a similar injury and he had opted to wear facial protection rather than undergo surgery. We went to find the mask to see if Messi could use it. The medics agreed to it and allowed him to play in the final on 4 May wearing the mask.’
What happened in the final?
‘The match begins and after two plays I can see that Leo is lifting up the mask a little bit. It doesn’t fit him, he can’t see. After two minutes he comes over to the bench and yells at me: “Here’s the mask, boss,” and he throws it at me. “Leo, if you take it off I have to take you off the pitch,” I tell him. “I could get into a lot of trouble, and you …” “No, please coach, leave me on a little bit longer,” he says. In five minutes he gets the ball twice and scores two goals. The first time he gets it in the middle of the pitch and dodges round the goalie; the second one is a cross from the touchline from Frank Songo’o, which he finishes beautifully. We were 3-0 up at the end of the first half and I said to him: “You’ve done what you had to do for your team, you can rest on the bench now.”’
It’s a lovely story. But tell me truthfully, did you ever imagine that Leo would make it this far?
‘Not so quickly, no. I was convinced that Messi had a lot of talent and that he’d make it to the first team – but an explosion like that? No. Everything has happened very quickly. That’s why I believe that if he doesn’t suffer from any serious injuries, Leo will leave his mark on a whole era.’
Chapter 13
Debut
16 November 2003
&nbs
p; The Dragão stadium is beautiful. Blue, contrasting with the green of the pitch; an open structure that allows a glimpse of Porto all lit up. The white cover closes in the space and provides a view of the pitch. Manuel Salgado’s construction, which seats 52,000, was built in order to replace the old Das Antas ground, as well as to host Euro 2004. The inaugural match between Portugal and Greece was held here. It is the backdrop against which FC Porto usually play – a beautiful location and well floodlit for the debut with the first team. Particularly since the date in question is Sunday 16 November 2003, the day of the stadium’s inauguration. The crowds have gathered, curious to see a new footballing moment for the city, to experience its magic directly, to wager whether or not the home colours will bring them luck, and to spend half an hour with their eyes trained on the sky admiring the golden blaze of fireworks.
For once, the match is perhaps of lesser importance. A bit of football, very few emotions, a decidedly boring fixture, which, in keeping with the script and to the delight of the home team, ends with a 2-0 victory to Porto.
Lionel Messi debuts in the 74th minute. He is the third substitution for Barcelona, invited to take his place as one of the protagonists of this Portuguese fiesta. This Barcelona team has been obliged to look to youth team players to fill the teamsheet. The internationals have been called up to their respective countries, occupied elsewhere in the Euro 2004 qualifying rounds or in friendlies. So there they are, the promising youngsters, called upon for a trip to Portugal: Jorquera, Oscar López, Oleguer, Márquez, Fernando Navarro, Xavi, Ros, Santamaría, Gabri, Luis García, Luis Enrique, Expósito, Thiago, Jordi, Oriol Riera and Messi, who had scored three goals for the youth A team at Granollers the previous day.
Leo replaces Navarro; he is wearing number 14. And he cannot wait to show what he is worth. So much so that he makes himself noticed in the fifteen minutes he is on the pitch by creating two scoring chances. At the final whistle, Frank Rijkaard comments that ‘he is a boy with a lot of talent and a promising future’.