by Luca Caioli
Leo is sixteen years, four months and 23 days old. In the club’s history, only two players younger than that have worn the Barcelona first team shirt: Paulino Alcántara – who debuted against Català on 25 February 1912, aged fifteen years, four months and eighteen days – and the Nigerian Haruna Babangida – who was brought on by Louis Van Gaal to play for a few minutes against the AGOVV in 1998 during a pre-season match in Holland, aged fifteen years, nine months and eighteen days. This is undoubtedly a good sign for the young boy who arrived from Argentina two-and-a-half years ago.
In any event, the magical night in Porto is, for the time being, an isolated incident, an exception. Messi will have to wait until the July 2004 Asia tour in South Korea, Japan and China before wearing the first team shirt again.
In the meantime, Barcelona Football Club has seen many changes. On 15 June 2003, Joan Laporta wins the election and becomes the new club president. Frank Rijkaard arrives to preside over the dugout and, on 21 July, Ronaldinho is presented as the new Messiah to 30,000 people at the Nou Camp.
After the annus horribilis that was the 2002–03 season (knocked out of the Champions League by Juventus in the quarter-finals; brought down by the Novelda 2nd B team in the Copa del Rey; sixth in the league, 22 points below the champions, Real Madrid; two coaches, Van Gaal and Radomir Antic, and two presidents, Joan Gaspart, and Enric Reyna in the interim), the club’s shareholders hope that things will improve and that they will recover the lost ground with regard to their historic Madrid rivals. They need a change of direction. And the changes come. Not only in the first team, but also in the youth teams. Joaquím Rifé is dismissed from his position as football director, and along comes Josep Colomer who, during his tenure, appoints Ángel Guillermo Hoyos as the youth B-team coach, class of 1987. He is an Argentine winger who has played for Talleres Córdoba, Gimnasia y Esgrima de Mar del Plata, Boca Juniors, Chacarita, Everton (in Chile), Deportivo Tachira (Venezuela) and Real Castilla. Hoyos and Messi immediately get on well. They talk about football and, of course, Leo’s passion for Newell’s. They very quickly understand each other. The new coach’s first impression occurs on Japanese soil at the beginning of August 2003, where the youth B team is about to compete in the Toyota International Youth Under 17 Football Championship. ‘When I arrived,’ says Hoyos, ‘we did some light training to loosen up. Nothing particularly hard or revealing. But after five minutes I could hardly believe it. Of course, they had told me about him. But I didn’t realise the extent of it: Leo was fierce.’
A thought that is reinforced during the first match against Feyenoord in Aichi. Fifteen minutes after kick-off, Barça are already down by a goal. Leo calls for the ball, dodges past four defenders and the goalkeeper, and gifts Songo’o a goal. Hoyos cannot believe his eyes: on the one hand he is surprised by the boy’s generosity, not at all selfish like so many others his age (or older); on the other hand he is dazzled by his class.
Leo goes on to be chosen as player of the tournament. It is a title he will receive again at the XXIII Torneig de Futbol Formatiu Memorial Jaume Serra in Sitges, at the third Memorial Salvador Rivas Miró in Sant Vicenç de Montalt, and at the Torneo dell’Amicizia, which is played at the end of August in San Giorgio della Richinvelda, in the Italian province of Pordenone. The youth B team defeats Parma, as well as host region Friuli-Venezia-Giulia, Hansa Rostok, Eintrach Frankfurt and Treviso, and in the final they beat Juventus 4-0. The team racks up 35 goals in total, but Leo cannot forgive himself for having missed a penalty. Although the wound is somewhat healed by converting one in the final, the error still haunts him. At first, Hoyos tries to console him by saying the goalkeeper will be able to tell his children and grandchildren that he once saved a penalty taken by the greatest player in the world; then he sets him to work training daily from the penalty spot, explaining that over the course of a season he will have to shoot five or six times from there and any one of those could be decisive. It could be in a championship game or in an important tournament. They are words that will come back to Leo when Argentina win the Under 20 World Cup thanks to two of his penalties.
Nonetheless, the Hoyos/Messi winning partnership (only a single defeat, at the hands of Real Madrid in the José Luis Ruiz Casado Sant memorial tournament) does not last long – only for the pre-season. The club’s directors are in no doubt: Leo is outgrowing this particular league. They decide to move him up, along with Gerard Piqué, to the youth A team.
It is here that the youngster’s incredible rise begins. In just one season he moves from the youth B to A team, then up through the Barcelona ranks from Barça C in the Third League to Barça B in the Second B League, not forgetting his brief moment of glory with the first team as well as reappearances in the youth leagues to help out his ex-team-mates. Here is a more detailed account of Messi’s performance and shining moments during his time with each of those three teams.
The youth A team – he arrives on the third match day of the league. He stays until Christmas, although for a few weeks he also plays for the Barça C team, returning at the end of May for the Copa del Rey. He plays in eleven championship matches and scores eighteen goals, one of which is truly incredible. It is against Real Betis during the final of the Nerja tournament. Messi finds himself in the centre of the pitch and, seeing that the goalkeeper has moved much too far forward off his line, shoots hard. The ball flies in a perfect arc: goal and victory.
Barça C team – at the end of November 2003, things are going badly for the team, who have only managed nine points in fourteen games. Enter the reinforcements: Messi and Alfi from the youth A team. They win their first match on 29 November against Europa. The two of them play extremely well. But the best moment comes on 4 January 2004. They are playing against Gramenet in Santa Coloma. The Blaugrana are losing 2-1. In the 87th minute it is Leo’s turn to shine. A header and a left-footer – wham bam – two goals in the blink of an eye (in addition to the equaliser), and the Flea brings home the victory for his team. Five goals in ten games, a determining factor in helping to get out of the relegation zone, and Leo moves on to better things. He is too good for the Third League, it would be better to try him in a higher league, despite the fact that he is only sixteen years old.
Barça B team – on 16 March, he plays his first match at home against Mataró. Coach Pere Gratacós admits that they had to create a special training programme just for him, as he would have to face older boys who were taller, stronger and more experienced. The coach also confesses his astonishment at the way in which the youngster was able to switch teams, teammates, coaches and formations, and yet still give it his all. He plays five matches and only the first is a victory – but Gratacós says that he was acclimatising and eventually showed what he could do. He adapted to the league and in the match against Girona he was the best on the field, which, like snakes and ladders, takes us back to square one: the youth B team. ‘Others would have got annoyed, but not him,’ says Juan Carlos Pérez Rojo, his youth team coach. ‘When the youth B team needed him, he immediately said yes.’
It happens in the last three games of the 2003–04 Liga. Three teams are still in the running for the title: Espanyol, Barça and Premià de Mar. The decisive encounter with Espanyol is on 15 April. If the parakeets pull it off they will be one step away from the title. By contrast, Barça cannot afford to put a foot wrong if they want to keep their options open until the end. So Leo pulls a majestic game out of his hat, and when the opposition, losing 2-1, start looking dangerous while desperately chasing the draw, Messi responds in his own way – with a goal that seals the deal.
Two weeks later, the team is celebrating, having won the title. His 36 goals in official matches, and 50 counting friendlies, are worth a considerable amount, not to mention his first professional contract. The negotiations are not easy given the many differences between the club’s directors and Jorge Messi, who deals with the matter personally. Eventually, however, a deal is reached. The Barça bosses know that should Leo decide to leave the city, h
e would have other options. Cesc Fàbregas has already been lost to Arsenal during the confusion that followed the dismissal of Joan Gaspart. They do not want history to repeat itself.
Chapter 14
Home-grown
Conversation with Cristina Cubero, Mundo Deportivo (Sports World) journalist
What does Leo Messi represent for Barça?
‘For Barcelona – and for the world – he represents the wait for a player like Maradona. A player who can enter the halls of fame among the footballing greats: Pelé, Maradona, Cruyff.’
Is he a player who responds to the club’s values?
‘Yes, definitely. I think they are “more than just a club” to him. The way they signed him – he had a growth problem but they made a huge push for him. It’s about more than just football. And another thing – Barcelona has always favoured players who are talented and technically skilled, and he is one of them. And what’s more, Messi is a kid who has grown up through the Barça ranks, among us. He is one of us, he is home-grown. He has grown up in the Blaugrana culture. And the Barcelona locals really appreciate that. Let’s not forget that there is a tradition around here of going to see the youth teams play. Many people knew who Leo was from the youth leagues and they know what it takes to get to the first team. That’s another reason to love him.’
When did you first meet Messi?
‘I have known him since he was sixteen years old. I’ve followed his whole career, both at Barça and with the Argentine national team. I still remember the first time I interviewed him … He was a shy kid, but he surprised me when he said he didn’t enjoy watching football … he liked playing it. Or that time in Hungary, when he cried all night because he had been sent off during his first game with the Albiceleste.’
How has he changed over the past few years?
‘In terms of football I think things have fallen into place for him since those goals against Getafe and Espanyol. He’s no longer a clone of Maradona, he is his own person now, he’s Leo Messi. He has had lots of opportunities to put into practice all the skills that he has stored away; he absorbed it all from Diego, all those images that he’s seen thousands of times. He’s shown that he knows how to do it. That’s it. Now he can develop his own personality. He’s not the kid who cries any more, or who stamps his feet like he did in the Champions League final in Paris, when he didn’t get a medal – he’s matured. If he gets angry, he says so, he shows it openly, like when he dedicated his goals to Ronaldinho. And his social scene has changed a lot. I think he has come to realise what he represents, and the atmosphere that he generates, especially after last year at the Copa América in Venezuela, when an entire stadium was screaming his name. It must have been a shock, something that is not easy to get used to. But the good thing is that the fame hasn’t gone to his head. He behaves the same way as he did before, despite having no privacy. A good example of that happened a few months ago in Rosario when a kid stopped him at a traffic light. He wants a photo. The normal thing to do would be for Leo to wind down the window and let him take a photo on his phone. But no. Leo parks and gets out for a picture.’
Has his role in the dressing room changed?
‘He’s not the captain, but in terms of football he’s a sporting leader, and no one disputes it. His teammates know exactly what they can expect from him, and everyone knows how valuable he is.’
Once Joan Laporta arrived Ronaldinho became Barcelona’s icon, now it is Messi. What are the differences between them?
‘Ronaldinho was a trickster, an artist with the ball. Leo represents the essence of the game: speed plus skill.’
Chapter 15
Videotape
29 June 2004
Hugo Tocalli tells the following tale: ‘They brought me a videotape of a boy who was playing in Barcelona. I really liked what he could do, but … in those sorts of cases I’m always worried that the tape is from some footballing agent. Besides, the kid was very young … So I said to myself, no … I’ll wait a while. I go off to Finland with the Under 17s and when I get back I find out more about this player. Everyone has told me great things about him. I go and see Grondona (Julio Grondona, the president of the AFA – the Argentine Football Association), and I schedule an opportunity to see the kid, in two friendlies, against Paraguay and Uruguay.’
The kid was Leo Messi, an unknown from the other side of the Atlantic. And the famous tape that was sent to Tocalli (who was then responsible for the Federación Argentina youth division), came from Claudio Vivas, assistant to Marcelo ‘el Loco’ (‘Crazy’) Bielsa, who at the time was manager of the Argentine national team, and currently coaches at Athletic Bilbao. Vivas, at that time an ex-Newell’s player and coach, had been curious about this fellow Rosarino, an ex-leper like himself, whom he had met many years previously at the Escuela de Fútbol Malvinas, and who was now making waves in Europe. So curious, in fact, that he decided to submit a tape of some of his fellow countryman’s best moments for the coach’s judgement.
It works, and the two proposed friendlies are subsequently organised in order to see him in action. The first request sent to Barcelona at the beginning of May has his name spelt incorrectly, asking for them to spare ‘Leonel Mecci’ some time to come over to Argentina; the request is politely rejected. He has Copa del Rey commitments. The end of June is more suitable. The AFA are in a hurry to see him play. Leo has lived in Spain for three years, he plays in the Barça youth leagues, and there is a risk of losing him and seeing him in a Furia Roja (Red Fury – Spanish national) shirt. It is not such a remote possibility given that only a year earlier during the Copa de España in Albacete, Under 16 coach Ginés Menéndez had offered Leo the chance to play for Spain. ‘No thank you’ was the reply he received. Despite living on the Iberian peninsula, Leo feels deeply Argentine. But who knows, perhaps after some insistence, the kid might change his mind? Either way, it is better to pre-empt the Spanish Football Federation.
‘He arrived one Monday to train with the Under 20s,’ recalls Tocalli. ‘He was a very shy kid, he didn’t know anyone and no one knew him.’ While his teammates – the likes of Pablo Zabaleta, Oscar Ustari, Ezequiel Garay – had already made names for themselves in the local championship, he has not. He stays in a corner of the dressing room at the Argentino Juniors stadium, hardly uttering a word. When the moment arrives to train and play ball, his attitude changes. Suddenly he is not as timid as perhaps he first seemed. The boss likes him – he values his ability and speed, but he does not come across too strong.
The match against Paraguay is on 29 June. Leo is not starting, partly because of his age, partly out of respect to the team, and also because they do not want to put too much pressure on him. In the second half, in the 50th minute, when the Argentines are already winning 3-0, Tocalli approaches him. He puts a hand on his shoulder and says to him: ‘Go with the trainer, who is heading down to the pitch.’ Surprised and excited, the Flea bursts onto the pitch wearing the sky-blue-and-white shirt for the first time. And he shows what he can do: he picks off his opponents and scores a goal.
‘You could see it in the way he played,’ says Tocalli. ‘If he was good in training, on the pitch he was something else.’ The friendly ends 8-0 and the youngster has seriously impressed the coaches. So much so that, that very night, Tocalli receives a call from his friend and youth coach predecessor, José Pekerman. ‘He asked me where I had found the boy. He thought he was fantastic. “You’re going to start him in the next match against Uruguay, right?” he asked me.’ But no. In the match against Uruguay, in Colonia, he is not in the starting line-up. When he comes on, however, he surprises everyone again. The next day, Sunday 4 July, the Buenos Aires sports magazine Olé writes: ‘Young Messi is the real deal. He scored two goals, four assists, and was the one to watch in the 4-1 victory over Uruguay.’
Leo’s double trial has been a definitive success. He has really impressed them. And now Tocalli has no doubts about including him in the squad for the FIFA Under 20 World Cup qualifiers i
n South America the following January.
A bit of trivia: aside from Mauro Andrés Zanotti who plays in Ternana, Italy, Messi is the only ‘foreigner’; he is also the youngest in the group. While he has just turned seventeen, the others are aged between eighteen and 20 and have extensive experience at all levels of the Argentine championship.
Time for the South American qualifiers. They are played in Colombia – in Armenia, Manizales and Pereira, cities along the central southern Andes, in the so-called ‘coffee-growing region’, far from Bogotá, the capital. They are played at high altitude – from 1,650 metres in Armenia, to 2,500 in Manizales – and the Argentines do not find it particularly easy to acclimatise.
Messi debuts against Venezuela on 12 January 2005 at the Centenario de Armenia stadium. As usual, he is not in the starting line-up, but is on the bench. He comes on fifteen minutes after half-time to replace Ezequiel Lavezzi, who today is a tattoo-sporting Napoli centre forward. At that moment the Albiceleste are winning 1-0. Thanks to Leo, eight minutes later the scoreboard reads 2-0. The match finishes 3-0. The Venezuelan defeat is incontestable and Messi’s contribution is significant. The scenario is repeated at the Palogrande stadium in Manizales, this time against Bolivia. At the beginning of the second half, the boss sends the number 18 on in place of Barrientos in order to form a more attacking line-up. ‘And after five minutes, Messi showed everyone that he is first-class material,’ writes the Argentine newspaper Época. ‘He latched onto the ball halfway up the pitch, made an unstoppable run and crossed it into the back of the net. An excellent shot that must surely be in the running for the title of best goal of the entire Under 20 South American championship. And in the twelfth minute, Messi made it 3-0.’