by Luca Caioli
He is wrong. Very wrong. It is immediately apparent upon hearing the comments from those in the room. While the journalists who have come from Buenos Aires might be satisfied with the position Leo has taken, happy that he has announced his Olympic dream and reaffirmed his desire to go for gold with the Albiceleste, the Catalan reporters are annoyed. They are coming off the back of two bad seasons for the club. The titles have vanished into oblivion one by one; the team that once dazzled the world has disappeared among dressing-room disputes and diatribes; its stars have been extinguished, and others, like Ronaldinho, have not made the headlines for months; Frank Rijkaard, the coach who directed the show for five years, has been dismissed; they have announced the departure of the superstars who led the Blaugrana to victory in the Champions League and La Liga; in summary, Barça – as a club and as a team – is going through a critical stage of much instability. At a time like this, it is difficult to digest Leo’s decision. ‘But how … can Barcelona play the Champions League qualifiers with him not there? Who is paying him, Barça or Argentina?’ And they dredge up the topic of the possible 8-million-euros-a-season ‘megacontract’, which Messi is to sign. And there’s more: ‘Messi is the player around whom the Blaugrana want to reconstruct a winning team, and he says “ciao” and he goes off to China. And if he gets injured, as has happened to him twice in this championship, who will pay?’
All this, and more, can be heard in the hallways of the Hesperia hotel. Few can stand the idea that the future Barça number 10 (everyone reckons he will inherit Ronaldinho’s shirt number), the player who was so needed during long weeks of misfortune, can abandon them in this way.
The following day, in the Catalan sports papers, the headlines about Leo’s declarations are mounting up. But they seem to understand the Flea’s position. In keeping with their journalistic duty, many of them recall the regulations. ‘In Messi’s case, it is not possible for Barça to refuse because he is under 23 years old,’ writes Sport.
In the offices of the Nou Camp they do not get the message. They have no intention of losing Leo during the Champions League qualifiers. They immediately consult the guidelines to see if there is any possibility of not conceding to the Argentine team. Leo’s father Jorge Messi, who meets with Barça technical secretary Txiki Begiristain a few days later, announces: ‘Leo will do whatever he is obliged to do, to avoid being penalised by either party.’ In other words, the decision to go to the Games does not depend solely on his son. If the Catalan club finds a way to prevent him, Lionel will have to resign himself to the fact and kiss his Olympic dream goodbye.
This is just the beginning of a tug-of-war between the AFA and Barcelona, which will go on for more than two months. In the meantime, having played the friendly against Catalunya (a match won by Pocho Lavezzi with one of his usual goals), Leo leaves for Argentina in a hurry. Coco Basile and the national team await him. The programme includes a mini tour of America and two qualifying matches for the 2010 World Cup. First, an important victory over Mexico; then a goalless draw against the United States at the New Jersey Giants’ stadium. And then come the matches that matter: against Ecuador at the Monumental stadium and against Brazil at Belo Horizonte’s Mieirão. The Albiceleste do not shine: two hard-earned draws.
Messi’s commitments with the national team have finished; it is holiday time, time for advertising promotions and matches like the one he arranged with Ronaldinho on 28 June at the Monumental de Maturín in Venezuela, the second instalment of a charity match between Messi’s friends and Ronnie’s friends. A 7-7 result and a farewell to them being teammates.
It is 2 July. Sergio Batista announces the list of the eighteen players who make up the national squad for the Olympics. Leo Messi is on it. It could be an end to the dispute. Julio Grondona, president of the AFA, also wants him there. ‘Argentina will call up Messi in accordance with FIFA regulation, which states that he has to be with his national team at the Olympic Games. If I don’t have Messi I don’t have a team, and if he doesn’t come and play with us, it will spark a precedent which will prompt other teams to ask for their players and we don’t want that to happen either. It is logical for him to play for Argentina, since Barcelona have him for the whole year. There are very few competitions in which Messi can play with his country.’
Sounds straightforward, doesn’t it? But Barcelona have no intention of waving the white flag. ‘We have read up on it, we have attended meetings with the AFA and, ultimately, the regulations will be adhered to. If the regulations favour us, Messi will play in the Champions League qualifier,’ maintains Begiristain.
On 15 July, Barcelona is back in session, with Pep Guardiola and without Ronaldinho. The Brazilian only has to complete his medical before he can play for Milan. It is a transfer which allows him to go to the Olympic Games. Barça had refused, since Ronnie is over 23 and FIFA does not oblige clubs to relinquish players older than 23. But Berlusconi’s club will relinquish him. ‘He’s so lucky,’ Leo must be thinking, not knowing what fate has in store for him. ‘The club will not talk to him about the matter, it’s a negotiation between Barcelona and the AFA,’ says his mother, Celia. ‘And Leo won’t speak, he won’t ask. He just waits for their answer.’ And for the moment he goes to St Andrews, Scotland, where Barcelona’s pre-season begins. It is 21 July. Two days later, Leo should be in Tokyo with the Olympic squad: a friendly against Japan is scheduled for 29 July. But Barça have not agreed. They have proposed to the Argentine Federation that they will relinquish the player after the American tour and after the first leg of the Champions League qualifier. If the result is good and favourable, of course. Messi would miss the first three matches of the Olympic qualifying stages, but as long as Argentina qualify, he could be there for the quarter-finals. It is a proposition that the AFA does not want to consider. The most they will accept is that Leo will take part in the Barça pre-season, and then join the national team before the first match. They will not entertain the possibility that Messi won’t go to the Games. They think that Barça will not want to come up against them, FIFA and, above all, the player, who has always expressed his desire to participate in the Olympics.
On 23 July, Joseph Blatter makes his contribution to the drama. ‘The relinquishing of players under 23 has always been compulsory for all clubs. This same principle applies for Beijing 2008,’ says the FIFA president, adding: ‘Obstructing the participation of players under 23 years of age in the final phase of the tournament could be interpreted as an attack on the spirit of the Olympics.’ But this still is not the final word, since the PFL can refute this argument. ‘There is no legal obligation to relinquish footballers. In contrast to the female football tournament, the male Olympic football tournament is not included in the international calendar of matches approved by FIFA for the 2008–14 period.’
The only one who suffers from this push and pull is Lionel. He is nervous and acts ‘a little strangely’, according to his teammates. So much so that after a forceful tackle during a practice in Scotland, he ends up in an altercation with Rafa Márquez. Pep Guardiola has to intervene to calm the excitement and ask a bad-tempered Leo to end things once and for all. It is a minor incident, it’s silly; nonetheless it affects the new Barça coach. Guardiola takes the boy to one side. He talks to him, he wants to know what’s going on, why the bad mood, why he’s unhappy. He doesn’t want to see him like this. He wants him to be happy playing football with Barça. A few words are enough to make Leo confess. He says, loud and clear, that he wants to go to Beijing. Guardiola promises to do everything possible. And he starts to take a stand after the first friendly against Hibernian (6-0 to Barça with a great goal from the Flea). ‘In the end,’ declares Guardiola, ‘Leo is the one who is worst affected in this story. There are only two or three weeks to go, some are saying one thing and others are saying something else. Blatter will have to sit down and look at the regulations and decide if he’s staying with us or going to the Games.’ Despite the demands, FIFA’s decision takes another six days. In
the interim comes Barça’s second friendly against Dundee United, with three Messi goals, as well as words from Joan Laporta, the Barça club president, who restates the club’s position, the consensus solution offered to the AFA, and announces that in the event of a negative verdict from FIFA, Barcelona will ‘turn to the legal guidance of the CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sport) so that our claims are taken into account’.
In short the tug-of-war continues. There is less than a week remaining until Argentina’s debut at the Games and no one knows if Leo will be there. On the websites of the Spanish and Argentine newspapers, the polls appear in abundance: ‘Should the national team keep waiting for Messi?’ asks Clarín of its readers. Evidently tired of this soap opera, they respond with a resounding ‘no’: 70 per cent, against 29 per cent who are willing to continue waiting.
‘What should Barça do about Messi? Should they let him compete in the Olympics, or try to keep him for the Champions League qualifier?’ replies El País from across the pond a few days later. Seventy-three per cent think Messi should participate in the Olympics.
On Tuesday 30 July Leo’s first words are heard. His total silence has generated all different types of response. Gabriel Batistuta, for example, defends him. ‘He is doing the right thing by not saying anything, because after the Olympics he is going to go back to playing with Barcelona and the national team.’ Maradona, on the other hand, attacks him.
‘He has to decide for himself. This is the moment to be more of a man. It is a great opportunity to grow. Either way, Barcelona will wait for him. That’s why they gave him the number 10 shirt: because they want him. If they gave it to him, it’s not because Messi is a movie star, it’s because he is a phenomenon, a great player.’ And, on the other hand, there is his family, who do not know which path to take. Jorge Messi confirms it: ‘There is a conflict of interest here in which the player is being put in the middle. And they are using my son as cannon fodder. You can’t generate prejudice towards a 21-year-old footballer, you never know how it will end. It’s crazy that the player should have to make the decision. It can’t be the case that those who are in charge of managing the football cannot reach an agreement. We don’t know what to do.’
Finally, before travelling to Florence, where the team are playing a friendly against the Purples (Fiorentina), Leo speaks his mind and says what he proposes to do. ‘If FIFA says I don’t have to go, I’m not going; if I have to go, I’ll go, without waiting for the CAS, because if I wait for the CAS it will already be too late for my teammates and the national selection staff.’
And a few hours later, FIFA says that Messi should go to the Games. ‘The sole judge of the Comisión del Estatuto del Jugador, Slim Aloulou (Túnez), has ruled that the relinquishing of players under 23 for the Beijing 2008 male Olympic football tournament is compulsory,’ announces the statement from Zurich.
The news is received with great relief from the Argentine camp. ‘Luckily, after a lot of going backwards and forwards, it was resolved in our favour,’ confesses Sergio Batista.
After the match against Fiorentina (3-1 to Barça), Pep Guardiola comments: ‘We will survive without Messi. However, I have a feeling that we are a little bit stronger with Messi. If he does not eventually return, we will ensure the team qualifies for the Champions League. And if he does return, we will welcome him back with open arms.’
There is a somewhat different response from the Blaugrana directors, whose opinion has not altered and who submit an appeal to the CAS. But in the meantime, instead of leaving for the American tour, Leo is off to China, promising to return if the CAS rule in favour of Barça.
In Shanghai, where he arrives on 1 August, Leo seems to recover the calm he had lost. He is laughing, and he finally seems happy during practice. He shares a room with Kun Agüero, as he did in the 2005 Under 20 World Cup. Thousands of PlayStation games, and cumbia music at full volume. The two get on well, they are relaxed, they let their hair down and do whatever they feel like. Checho breathes easily. The first time he saw Leo was at Barcelona, in the match against Catalunya. There were not many practices, and few with his teammates, but fortunately he now has the chance to build up the group. For a while now, Batista has been thinking about where to position him on the field. ‘I want Messi to come into the centre more, not be pinned to the touchline the way he is with Barcelona. I want him to generate more play, in front of Riquelme and behind Agüero,’ he explains. Meanwhile, the Flea tells the press his dreams. ‘For me, and for all the players, it would be really special to reclaim the title. We came here to win the gold medal. We’ll take it slow and hopefully we can get it.’ He denies that there is any problem between him and Riquelme (just before the World Cup qualifier against Brazil there had been rumours circulating of a dispute between the national number 10 and Messi). He maintains, although few believe him, that the relationship with Román has always been good. Regarding the controversy that kept him away from the national team, he explains: ‘Batista understood me and so did my teammates, they had no problem waiting for me. I did what I had to do. I hope that this situation will not be an issue any longer.’ And it won’t.
On 6 August, on the eve of Argentina-Ivory Coast, the first group A match, the CAS rules in favour of Barcelona. ‘The Olympic tournament does not appear on FIFA’s official calendar, and there is no decision from the FIFA executive committee which establishes an obligation to make players less than 23 years of age available to their countries for this championship,’ explains the tribunal’s ruling. However, it then requests that the parties concerned find ‘a reasonable solution with respect to the players who wish to represent their countries at the Olympic Games’. And how do the parties react? Grondona is the first to make himself heard: ‘Messi is not going anywhere.’ Sergio Batista confirms: ‘He will be on the pitch tomorrow.’ And Leo? He makes no statements about the ruling and it seems that, though he may have been willing to return to Barça, he has no intention of returning to the fold now.
‘He has told me that he wants to stay with the squad and he asks Barcelona to be considerate of his position,’ assures Checho. Begiristain does not seem to be considerate: ‘It is our wish – with our fans in mind – that Leo Messi be with the club,’ he says. Satisfied with Barcelona’s legal victory, Laporta orders the player’s immediate return. But first, Guardiola wants to speak to Leo. ‘I want to listen to him, and we will make a decision,’ he says, ‘but I can’t relay it without having heard from the player.’ Then there is a long, intercontinental phone conference between New York (where Barça are concluding their American tour against the Red Bulls) and Shanghai. Leo Messi asks Guardiola – who, after Barcelona ’92, knows what it means to win an Olympic gold – to help him: he wants to stay in China and participate in the Games. Pep promises to find a solution. No sooner said than done. At the meeting, which takes place in a suite at the Saint Regis hotel, on the corner of Fifth Avenue and 53rd Street, he convinces Laporta and Begiristain. Messi is to stay in Beijing. But not without a few conditions. The first is that the AFA will take responsibility for medical insurance in case Messi is injured. The same clause that was demanded by Schalke 04 and Werder Bremen for Rafinha and Diego, the two Brazilians who were in the middle of a similar dispute between the clubs and the Brazilian Federation. The second is a ‘personal agreement with Julio Grondona that the player will be relinquished from all the season’s friendlies’. Guardiola is the one who announces Barcelona’s decision to Leo. He calls him from the plane a few minutes before takeoff from New York. ‘You’re staying. Enjoy it,’ he says.
On 7 August the Blaugrana expedition is on its way back to Barcelona. It falls to Begiristain and Guardiola to make the official announcement regarding the resolution of Messi’s case. ‘He found himself in a difficult position and he himself had expressed a desire to be with us for the pre-season,’ explains the coach. ‘But when he arrived in Beijing, he asked me personally not to request his return to Barcelona. I noted a lot of emotional tension. He has suffere
d brutal pressure, as has his family. I saw that he seemed very uncomfortable with the situation, and it also was not a good idea to bring him here if his head was in Beijing. Now, after this whole drama, the best thing is for him to play, to enjoy it, to be happy and for him to return content. The Barça fan-base knows that we have an extraordinary player and that he will do wonderful things when he returns. The people will be understanding towards him.’
Messi goes onto the pitch to face the Ivory Coast wearing the Argentine number 15 shirt. And he demonstrates why his presence at the Olympic Games was so important. Towards the end of the first half, he receives a 45-yard pass from Riquelme, he picks up the pace and, almost from the penalty spot, places it delicately into the net. Five minutes from the final whistle, when the scoreboard seems stuck at 1-1 (Cissé responded to Leo’s goal), the Flea takes a quick free kick with Román on the edge of the area and it takes a wicked deflection. The Elephants’ goalie makes the save and Lautaro Acosta – who secured the team’s qualification for the Games – then finds it easy to score the final goal to make it 2-1.
A few seconds from the end, Batista substitutes Leo and in doing so gives him the opportunity to be applauded by the Chinese crowd. They did it throughout the match and, when his picture appeared on the Olympic stadium screen, regardless of the fact that the Argentine national anthem was playing, a chant of ‘Messi, Messi’ began to pick up in the stands. He is one of the best-known sportsmen in the People’s Republic of China. He sells well, from shirts to Pepsi Cola, and the children want to be like him. For the moment, let’s leave aside his popularity, which grew exponentially during the Olympics, to the point that he joined FIFA’s ranks as one of the best-known sportsmen, and at the end of the tournament will be chosen by the online users of MyBestPlay as the most favoured footballer of the Olympics, alongside athletes such as Michael Phelps, the swim king, or Usain Bolt, the fastest man in the world. Let’s return to the match. Beneath the question of favourite footballers, which dominates the conversation, there is also a sense of happiness at the resolution of the conflict. This time it is Leo’s turn to speak, and to thank Guardiola. ‘He was a player and he knows how a player feels at those moments,’ he says. ‘He knew that I was in a situation that was difficult for me and he has supported me ever since he arrived at Barcelona, since the first day when I spoke to him. He has been outstanding, and the truth is that I am very grateful.’ With the chapter closed once and for all, his thoughts now turn to his friend Ronaldinho’s Brazil, the other favourite to win the title: ‘If we reach a final against Brazil, it will be much more difficult because Ronnie will be there. It is always great to win a final, and even more so against Brazil,’ jokes the Flea, but before that, there is ‘Australia, tough competitors, strong, who play well in the air and who will create a tricky match. It’s going to be extremely difficult.’