Messi (2022) Movie Script
INDISTINCT CHATTER
Leo!
Leo!
SHOUTED ENCOURAGEMENCHEERING
# I lost my mind
# So I stepped out for a time... #
Messi. Give it to him and pray.
Messi! Goal!
It had to be Messi!
# ..on a long road to unwind
# I met myself there
# Saying, go home... #
It's not easy to be always
at the peak of your game.
It's basically impossible. But he
made it feel like it was possible.
He's always a few seconds before
the rest.
He's doing it at a speed
that no-one else works at.
The talent's just incredible.
# Yeah, they knocked me out then
# They barely move now... #
Messi collects.
Messi scores!
Everyone will remember him
as the greatest.
Messi!
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
Nobody could really believe
that he would go somewhere.
He's Leo Messi. He's supposed to
finish his career in Barcelona.
MESSI SNIFFS
Messi's Barca. Barca's Messi.
Messi's Barca.
He's a symbol of Barca.
They think, in Barcelona,
Messi is one of them.
A Catalan.
CROWD CHANT: Messi! Messi! Messi!
The Messis are a typical
Rosario family -
humble, from a
working-class background.
You could see those values,
the family values, in Leo, you know.
He married Antonela, his childhood
girlfriend from the neighbourhood.
He's still very close to that area,
to his friends.
DOG BARKS
He was a very small kid.
You know, he didn't speak.
He was very, very shy.
The first training session
we had with Leo, and I was playing
a bit more as a
defensive midfielder,
and we were doing this exercise
of one against one.
In my head, I'm thinking that
I'm going to get the ball easy,
you know, from him, because
I like to go on the floor
and I like to tackle.
But then I was seeing
that he was coming with...
The speed was not normal. He was
coming very, very fast at me,
and I was already shocked, because
I remember falling on the floor.
You know, I lost ability
and he scored the goal.
So, from that moment I said,
"Hold on a second,
"we need to take this
boy very, very seriously."
Before, it was not that normal
to see players
at that age coming from so far.
We were all from
the area, Barcelona.
If you were very good, they could
take you from somewhere in Spain.
So, of course, you know,
seeing someone coming from
so, so far away at such a young age,
we all thought,
"Wow, this boy must be something
really special."
Once in Barcelona, things didn't
work smoothly,
and six months after arrival,
there was a turning point of
everybody's life.
Leo's dad and mum, Celia and Jorge,
had been together
since they were teenagers.
Sister wasn't adapting.
Matias, he had a girlfriend back
in Rosario.
It was a time to decide - do we stay
in Barcelona
or do we go back to Rosario?
They sat around the table,
the whole family.
"Leo, what do you want to do?"
And Leo said, "I want to succeed.
"I want to be a Barcelona. I want
to be a professional player."
The consequences of that -
they hadn't told Leo, of course -
is that meant that Mum will take
sister and the two brothers back
to Rosario, and Dad will stay
with him.
You need to be mentally
very, very strong.
You need to have
a special character.
Otherwise, you don't succeed.
There is so many moments
where you feel weak,
where you... You know, your
head mislead you a little bit,
that you want to go back
to your family,
you want to go back to your habits,
to your grandparents,
to your friends,
to playing football
where you started.
So, I'm sure it was very tough,
but I want to believe that,
you know, we were good kids as well,
and we tried all the ways
to be next to him and help him
as much as we could.
There were moments,
a lot of moments,
where I'm sure Leo must have,
if not doubted,
at least wondered what
he's done to his family.
And often he would go into his room
and put his head under
the pillow and cry.
And he did that so his dad didn't
hear him cry,
because he then, at 14,15,
realised that because of his
decision, he couldn't get it wrong,
and basically now it was his time
to deliver.
Gerard Pique also left
the year after me,
and Gerard and I,
we were from Barcelona.
We were there because maybe
we were the best in Barcelona,
not because they saw us in
Argentina, 12 years old,
and they thought we could be one
of the best players in the world.
Hello.
The first time I saw him, actually,
was when we went to pre-season tour
to Asia with Barcelona.
And it was my second year there.
And, yeah, you're a lot
of young players
and the regular squad,
and Leo was coming with us,
and I haven't seen
him playing football,
but obviously I understood
that if he's with us,
he can play a little bit.
And I remember talking to
Giovanni van Bronckhorst
after the first practice,
"Who's that guy?"
And he said, "It's Lionel Messi."
He's from Barca B, he's going
to come in and play with us."
And I said, "Ah. Well, he can play."
His character back then was quiet,
breathing in the situation.
At the time, Ronaldinho was
the main man in the dressing room.
He was the number ten.
What he could do with the ball
was just incredible.
When I joined Barcelona,
when arriving in the changing Room,
Ronaldinho put me aside
and he started to speak with me
and he said, "Whatever you need,
I'm here for you."
He did exactly the same with Leo.
Him, Deco,
they were superstars,
but they were so humble.
With Leo, he understand he will
become in the future
one of the greatest of all time,
you know?
So, he was there for every
single moment.
When I saw Ronaldinho, I thought,
this is the best footballer
I will ever see, up until that day.
Ronaldinho handled everything
with a smile.
Leo is a little bit
more introvert,
but I think saw what it takes
to be the main man.
Leo Messi's brought
the Camp Nou to life!
We were meeting without Leo.
Sometimes we were speaking about his
talent, and we were making, like,
some kind of plans to make
him grow in the best way.
In that meeting, it was Deco,
Ronaldinho, Puyol, Xavi.
People who made history
not only in Barcelona
but in football world.
Perfect.
STADIUM ANNOUNCER:
Claudia Schiffer und Pele.
For the 2006 World Cup,
the whole FIFA machinery
is now making a thing about Messi.
And so there's buildings in Germany
with his picture,
and there's a lot riding
on this expectation.
Young Leo would have just won
the Youth World Cup,
and he was part of that generation
of young players coming through
with Jose Pekerman as the manager.
COMMENTATOR: Listen to the roar
that greets this young man.
It's only his eighth cap.
His nickname is The Flea.
In front, we play me and Saviola,
Tevez and Riquelme.
We were a great team.
He's coming and joins us
as a number 23 or 22,
in terms of the list.
Everyone wants to see Messi.
And Messi's already a name
and a thing,
but he's never played World Cup.
He was a really young player,
but at the same time show us -
everything, he can do it.
Pekerman plays Messi not
that much in that World Cup.
And in fact, when Argentina
go out to Germany,
Messi's on the bench.
COMMENTATOR: It's Germany!
Jens Lehmann is the hero.
Germany are into the last four!
This is the one instance, I think,
in the history of world football
where it was unanimous
that people were furious
that Messi didn't play.
Messi was furious,
the Argentinian FA were furious,
the fans were furious,
the journalists were furious.
Possibly FIFA were furious.
When you are eliminated
after the World Cup,
everyone wants to find the guilty,
every of us wants to...
"If I change that or that
to change the history."
The history, you never change it.
Leo started to accumulate games
and started to score goals
and to be different.
Those two years - 2006, 2007 -
were a turning point.
I was playing for Espanyol
and he was on the other side
of the city.
He had some friends, but he was shy
and I felt like I need
to look after him.
I need to make sure that
he's always good
and surrounded by nice people
because in football, when you...
..when you become a star,
everyone wants to come
and be your friend.
I was the only one to drive,
so I used to take him a few
times to some restaurant,
and I remember his father
talking and saying,
"Please, take care of him, you know,
look after Leo."
For me, it was like having an...
Imagine 80 million next to me.
HE CHUCKLES
The main thing was just to drop
Messi off in his house
and safe and all that.
Nobody knew me. That's...
I was playing for the other team of
the city,
but everyone knew Messi.
You started to see Rijkaard wanted
to play him more
because obviously, even at this
high level, he could...
..have great use of Lionel.
At one point, he scored when...
..when he wanted to score.
SPANISH COMMENTARY
At a time where you don't give
17-year-olds opportunities,
especially in Barcelona, the manager
will demand players
that are already matured
and that allow Barcelona to win.
It wasn't the done thing
to get youngsters through.
Yes, at some point.
For instance, Iniesta started making
an impact when he was 23,
Xavi when he was 22
At 17, it's just... It wasn't
the done thing.
But Frank gave him the opportunity.
Frank, for me, was the best
coach I had.
He had the right word in every
single moment for any one of us.
Frank could see the context
of the situation,
could see how important it was
that in the first few years
there wasn't so much demand
towards Messi.
He became like an older
brother to Leo.
I think he was lucky
to have the first coach Frank,
because Frank was different.
He always told him, "Leo,
you are a winger right now
"because you've got pace and you can
influence the game a lot in there,
"but you are going to be, at some
point, the main focal point.
"It could be under me
or under somebody else,
"because you're going to grow
to become a player that wins games."
COMMENTATOR: Xavi.
Messi.
SPANISH COMMENTARY
COMMENTATOR: But here's
Maradona again.
Has Burruchaga to his left,
and Valdano to his left.
He won't need any of them.
Oh! You have to say
that's magnificent.
Everybody said it's like
the Maradona magic is back
in the feet of this guy
from Rosario.
Pure football genius.
How do you compare yourself
to Maradona if you're Argentine?
I mean, the two goals
that Maradona scored
against England in 1986
were living out
an Argentine fantasy.
He already had become the big hope
of Argentinian football.
But of course, what everybody wanted
is not just that he becomes
the leader of Argentina and makes
them win the World Cup,
as Maradona had done -
people wanted him to be Maradona.
MUSIC: La Bamba
by Dusty Springfield
Maradona, Maradona, Maradona.
Diego brought so much joy
to the Argentinian people.
If you're creating a narrative,
you want disaster as well
as the triumph,
and Maradona had had that.
And he wins the World Cup.
The truth is, in terms of football,
they are so similar.
Off the pitch,
they're massively different.
Diego is a huge personality
off the pitch as well -
a massive ego, huge following.
Everywhere he went, his life
was madness.
Messi's quiet and much
calmer off the field.
Maradona, from the very moment
he arrives,
people realise this is...
I mean, his nickname
immediately was El Pibe de Oro -
the golden urchin,
the golden child, the golden boy.
It's that he looks like the ideal
of an Argentinian
and that he has this very
dramatic life story.
And so I guess that's the pressure -
he is always being compared directly
to Maradona,
but until he wins a World Cup,
he's never going to match him
for Argentinians.
Have you seen that advertisement
of a...
of a rabbit with, um...
..with drums.
He's got two batteries,
that rabbit.
You take one, it stops.
Messi had only one -
couldn't grow naturally.
What the hormones did,
once they identified
that he had a growth problem,
was to make him grow naturally.
That was already a test to his
endurance and his mental strength
because he just had to get
this little thing, open it,
injection, just put it into his leg,
and move on.
And to see an 11-year-old doing
that, it must have been a shock.
The way they worked at the time
was that agents proposed players
to the club and there were agents
that were close to Barcelona,
like Jose Maria Minguella.
He told Barcelona that it
would be a good idea to get him,
and the reaction from the club
was like,
"A 12-year-old from Argentina?"
That wasn't done and.
And, all right, they convinced
Barcelona to do a trial for Leo.
Charly Rexach, the director
of football at the time, arrived,
started walking as the game
was going on,
was looking at what Messi was doing,
must have been one minute, two,
sits on the bench and tells
the coaches,
"Exactly why you haven't signed
that guy yet?"
Because he was outstanding.
There was a meeting in a tennis club
and I think it was Charly who asked
for a napkin, paper napkin,
and a pen and just wrote
a few conditions.
And, you know,
"I, Charly Rexach, agrees
"that Leo Messi will be a player."
Barcelona signed it and gave
it to Minguella,
hoping that that was enough.
And, yes, that was enough.
Watching this Barcelona
team was brilliant.
That was Pep's first experience
as a coach in Barcelona
with probably the best Messi,
with prime Leo.
Pep improved Messi
and Messi improved Pep.
They were... They were
perfect together.
That was probably the best team he
played in, Barcelona at that time.
I mean, they were so strong,
weren't they?
With Iniesta and Xavi and
Pique and Puyol -
all these wonderfully
gifted players.
So if you've got a great team behind
you, that's going to help you.
However great you are,
you do need a team.
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE ANTHEM PLAYS
COMMENTATOR: It's Manchester United
against Barcelona
for the biggest European Cup prize
of them all.
SPANISH COMMENTARY
Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo...
We were ready for Messi, yeah.
We thought.
We'd played against him before
and we'd locked him down.
Um... But this was
a different Messi.
This was Messi who had more freedom
to run around
and pop up anywhere
and surprise you.
Pfft.
If you were picking out the five
best players in the world -
Messi, Ronaldo, right?
Xavi, Iniesta, and
many would argue Busquets.
So four of the top five players
in the world, arguably,
are playing in that one team.
COMMENTATOR: Barca lead 1-0.
Hold on, and they had Pep Guardiola.
Do you know what I mean?
What I used to do a lot
is gamble on their...
..their lack of ability to be able
to get the ball past me.
Problem was the person on the ball
was Xavi.
Si.
If you know your players,
you know who you're dealing with.
SPANISH COMMENTARY
Scores with a header!
Lionel Messi makes it
Barcelona 2-0 Manchester United.
When Messi scores the header
and everyone says,
"But, like, the size of you,
the size of him..."
An outrageous header, really.
He hasn't scored many of them
in his career
but he's done it in the big moment.
HORNS HONKING
CHANTING
Messi!
CHEERING
Barcelona ended up winning
absolutely everything
because he was the best player
in the world at the time.
The thing about him is that he took
it naturally.
You know, for him, it's in his
veins, it's in his blood.
He just wants to win at any cost.
Whatever he needs to do,
he will do to win.
Leo always wanted to win
something with Argentina.
He said many, many times that he
will swap all his individual awards
for winning something
with Argentina.
HE SINGS IN SPANISH
In 2010, as always, the expectations
were very high.
CHANTS IN SPANISH
Messi's the best player
in the world.
Better than Maradona. Better than
anybody. Better than Ronaldo.
Messi!
Diego Maradona in charge
with a very good group of players,
with Leo with a few years under his
belt as the main player.
The relationship was very good.
Diego loved Leo,
and for Leo, Diego obviously
was a hero.
It ended up in disaster.
COMMENTATOR: It's four!
Getting destroyed by Germany.
Maradona's Argentina are out.
I think the expectation to have
in the same squad Leo
and also Diego as a manager was...
..was difficult.
Things got very volatile
between Diego Maradona
and the whole Argentina
football world.
INAUDIBLE
Maradona thrived on conflict.
His fuel was this very nice word
from Argentinian slang
- bronca.
Argentina against the world,
him against the other players.
He really fed off this sense
of conflict.
I think Messi is evolutionarily
more advanced
and rather than thriving on
conflict, he thrives on cooperation,
which is really...in the kind of
evolutionary term,
survival has always come about
through cooperation
rather than competition.
And so Messi needs to be part
of a well-oiled,
harmonious machinery
that is about him being in
a cooperative system.
COMMENTATOR: We're at Wembley
and it's the 2011
Champions League final,
arguably the biggest game
in football.
The finals where we got Barcelona,
unfortunately for us, we were facing
the best team in the world
with one of the best players
that's ever, ever put on a pair
of football boots.
I look at it now and think, you know
what, how unlucky is that, really?"
To get to two finals and we bump
into them. It's a liberty really.
Si. It shouldn't be allowed.
COMMENTATOR: Xavi.
On to the unmarked Pedro.
And it's a goal for Barcelona!
Messi was just
like...no eye contact,
nothing. He just separated himself.
He just played away from you.
And then, all of a sudden, he'd turn
up - bang.
Sir Alex Ferguson said that he
should've put Ji-sung
Park on him maybe.
If anyone could've done it,
he would've been the guy.
But I've watched some of the clips
in that game
and he moves Ji-sung Park about.
Woo-woomp, moves him, see you later.
He would have slowed him down maybe,
which maybe would have been enough.
But does that stop prime-time
Lionel Messi?
I very much doubt it.
I don't think one player can do it.
Iniesta. Messi still lurking deep.
The ball played between Xavi
and Iniesta once more.
Messi's available.
Messi given the ball.
Scurries forward.
What a goal from Lionel Messi!
SPANISH COMMENTARY
I remember standing on the pitch
and just going,
"We just need to get off here
because they've just took..."
"They've took our soul, basically."
And Messi was the main ingredient.
The Pep years were probably
the start of Messi's peak.
It's been a long peak!
I get a bit carried away by Messi.
I don't mind admitting that
because he fills me with joy.
If I had one game left on Earth,
I'd watch Messi
because Messi stirs the soul.
Never fails to take
the breath away.
He does four or five things in every
game I would never have been able
to do once in my entire career.
He's running with the ball,
tighter control than anyone,
quicker than anybody,
and the agility to be able
to change direction,
all with his head up.
Just a wonderful footballer, man.
Just, like, can't even put it
into words, how good is.
Sometimes I thought about it
like if it was me who scored
that many goals,
like, how would you feel?
You know, because sometimes
I score a goal.
I scored only one hattrick
in my career and I was, like,
I couldn't sleep for two days!
But he must have felt this
every game he plays.
There doesn't seem too much
of an ego with him.
I remember being at a Barcelona game
once, sort of backstage,
and he walked past with
all the other Barcelona players
and it was almost like
a sort of school trip,
with Xavi and Iniesta,
but he just didn't,
he wasn't leading things,
just seemed part of the team.
Many of our superstars,
they're much bigger personalities
off the pitch as well.
He's not, he's the opposite.
He keeps himself to himself.
So, he's a little bit of an enigma
in that sense.
I do remember interviewing him
in Barcelona once
and after the interview,
I was waiting in the car park
and there were loads of tourists
going to the museum and the shop
and people milling about.
And there was a guy that worked
at the stadium chatting
to a younger guy who was leaning
against the car, eating an apple.
And it took me quite a while
to realise
that the younger guy was Messi.
You know, nobody noticed
he was there.
I don't know what that is,
but I know that other players,
even of that same Barcelona team,
would have garnered more attention
in a public space like that.
His wife is his childhood
sweetheart.
There's nothing wrong with that.
That's fine. That's great.
But there's a sense that a lot
of things in his life are exactly
the same now as they were
when he was sort of 15, 16.
And I guess, you know, his lifestyle
hasn't changed that much.
Turns up to training.
Do your training,
do your fitness work.
Go home, play a bit of PlayStation.
There's something about him
that just makes him not stand out...
..unless he's on the pitch.
2014 World Cup. Millions of
Argentina descend on Brazil.
The teams play well.
Leo play very, very well.
That's what they came for, by train,
plane and automobile.
50,000 Argentines have found
their way to Rio
and Lionel Messi
finally rewards them.
We get to the final
with a lot of hope.
They all expect
Leo to win and do everything.
At some point, it was so much
pressure on Leo.
He's not a person,
he doesn't like to talk too much.
He said a few words
before the game against Germany.
As a leader, you don't need to speak
all the time.
Sometimes you have leaders
in the team that they probably
don't speak too much.
But then in the right moment
to talk to someone is the moment
to say something and
everyone listen.
Guys, we're in the World Cup final.
Whatever happen today,
if we win, we lose,
just let enjoy the game and,
you know, that coming from Leo,
that he's been in Champions League
final,
he's one of the greatest players
in the world,
but he knew that that day
and that game was special.
It was a dream for him, being in
the World Cup final as well.
The difference is, it's big,
winning or losing the World Cup.
Because if you win, you can say
for the rest of your lives,
I'm a World Cup champion.
The flag has stayed down
this time...
Messi's missed.
With the crowd just waiting to roar.
If you lose, it's like, how long
is it going to take again
to be in a World Cup final? So...
..that's why that day is, like...
Shurrle. Working it in.
Chance for Gotze!
Mario Gotze scores for Germany!
Germany are champions of the world.
After the game was, like...
It was terrible.
We were all crying like babies
because, you know,
it was very close.
Still hurting.
There's the extraordinary image
at the end of that game when Messi
is presented with the
Player of the Tournament award
and he looks totally devastated.
You know, he's trying to be polite,
but his face is saying,
I just want to get out of here.
When you lost a World Cup final...
..you don't need to say anything.
A few pictures of Leo
looking at the World Cup.
A tough one to take.
You want to see the best player
of the modern age
having a great tournament
in the greatest tournament.
Shortly afterwards,
the mood changed.
There was this extraordinary demand
from Argentina
that because he performed
so fantastically with Barcelona,
he somehow had decided not
to perform that well with Argentina.
Although Messi still speaks
with an Argentinian accent,
he eats Argentinian food, although
he watches Argentinian films,
listens to Argentinian music,
there's still a sense in Argentina
he's a bit European.
I remember being in Santa Fe
and the bloke reading out the teams
for the game said,
wearing the ten, the greatest
in the world, Lionel Messi -
sort of half hearted applause -
and wearing the 11,
the player of the people,
el jugador del pueblo, Carlos Tevez,
and everybody goes berserk
because Tevez was seen as being
more truly Argentinian.
There's no sense that his genius
has been hard wrought.
There's no sense of
any kind of suffering.
And I think there's a feeling, not
just in Argentina, but that geniuses
should somehow suffer
for their greatness.
And Maradona, that was front
and centre, whereas Messi,
and it's ridiculous to criticise
somebody for this,
it's just been season after season
after season of relentless
excellence, and particularly
for somebody who's never played
league football in Argentina,
that creates that sense of distance.
I think 2016 was the big change.
The Copa America is the Euros
of South America.
To get to the final is very hard.
There's no easy games.
So, in 2015, Argentina would play
Chile in the final.
Drew 0-0, lost on penalties.
Same thing happens in 2016
in the US,
in the Copa America Centenario.
It is Messi who misses the penalty.
PORTUGUESE COMMENTARY
We lost three finals,
three years in a row.
So, that's where the pressure
started to build.
He looked visibly like someone
who just can't take it any more.
That was a very difficult moment
for us.
That was the third final
that we lost in a row.
So, we were very, very sad.
I cried that day. You know, it broke
my heart, you know.
You know, he burst into tears
in the middle of the pitch.
I said, you know, how can we,
how can we come to this, you know?
Here he comes.
Very surprised, no,
because our capitano, our leader...
..was going to leave the team,
was very difficult.
What that miss did was
to humanise him.
Any doubts people in Argentina had
about how much he cared
disappeared at that moment.
His tears and his obvious anguish,
that's when it changes.
And suddenly there's
this desperation of
we've got to get Messi
to winning something.
People were writing odes, saying,
"I love you just the way you are.
I don't need a cup."
On the underground, these messages,
"Lionel, please come back."
And everyone pleaded to the point
that eventually the entire football
association rebuilt itself, hired
managers that would make sure
he was comfortable and he returned.
Our national colours mean a lot
to us.
He would not have wanted to stay
in history like he gave up.
And he's not a quitter.
First time European champions...
..kings of Europe..
..are Portugal.
Messi didn't win it for Argentina
while his nemesis, Ronaldo,
wins the Euros and is
in the top of the world.
When everything calms down and sees
that Ronaldo keeps succeeding,
he cannot deny that
that rivalry makes him better.
Ronaldo, Messi, were actually
in the same league,
fighting for the same titles,
including the individual ones.
I think one of the Ballon d'Ors
that Ronaldo won,
something turned in his stomach
and thought,
it's going to be me next year.
Just look at the stats.
There'll be a couple of goals
from Ronaldo,
Messi will score three.
They will be three from Messi,
Ronaldo will score
another hat-trick.
As they become older and
start having kids,
one thing that happens
is that they recognise
is that their journey
was very similar.
Both of them had to leave home
at 12, 13.
Both of them had to beat
a lot of obstacles.
In the case of Ronaldo, bullying
and jokes about his accent,
about his skin, about what,
his looks, and in the case of Messi,
he had to battle
his chronic shyness
to actually have a little bit
of a presence off the pitch.
Now, there is no friendship,
but what there is is an admission
or recognition of admiration
of one to another.
Mbappe...
Mbappe!
It is France who've won through
to the World Cup quarterfinals.
How could it possibly be that player
that good could go
through his entire career
and not win a senior trophy?
You know, this is somebody
who's given so much to the game,
who's been so brilliant for so long,
and you sort of feel
football sort of owes him one.
Suddenly we were back in Brazil,
a few years back
after the disappointment of the
World Cup, and this was even nicer
because at the Maracana
it was not the Germans, Brazil.
Like it was meant to happen,
you know?
Before, everyone expecting Messi
to do everything, to get the ball,
dribble four or five players
and score into the top corner.
And I think we understood, this
young team, how to play for him.
It was, like, guys,
it was meant to be.
We were supposed to play
in Argentina.
They change last minute.
Back in Brazil. We've been 40 days
away from our families.
And he said something about me
that obviously I will never forget.
He said, "Emi saw his daughter born
on FaceTime, you know.
"He couldn't even give her a cuddle.
"So, let's do it for him."
I had butterflies on my tummy
when he was saying that
and he nearly made me cry
just before the game started.
Argentina lead, thanks to a moment
of magic from Angel Di Maria!
Everyone ran to Leo...
..to say, "We won it."
Everybody were really happy for him.
I hugged him so hard and said,
"We did it."
You know, I was crying.
I'm a very emotional guy.
I had to grab him in the air,
you know, like, here,
you know, come here.
Like my little, like my boy,
Santi, you know, like...
I love the guy, man.
He won everything - Ballon d'Or,
Champions Leagues,
and he hugged that cup
like he was the baby.
He left all the trophies outside
to win this one.
You've got to take it in
before this guy leaves the pitch
for the last time.
No-one is like Leo Messi.
It's impossible to arrive
to that level.
It's impossible.
That's the legacy,
because if he has done it,
somebody else will do it
at some point.
It's possible.
But I can tell you that right now,
it feels impossible.
I don't think we will ever see
someone like him again.
At least not in my time.
Leo!
Leo!
SHOUTED ENCOURAGEMENCHEERING
# I lost my mind
# So I stepped out for a time... #
Messi. Give it to him and pray.
Messi! Goal!
It had to be Messi!
# ..on a long road to unwind
# I met myself there
# Saying, go home... #
It's not easy to be always
at the peak of your game.
It's basically impossible. But he
made it feel like it was possible.
He's always a few seconds before
the rest.
He's doing it at a speed
that no-one else works at.
The talent's just incredible.
# Yeah, they knocked me out then
# They barely move now... #
Messi collects.
Messi scores!
Everyone will remember him
as the greatest.
Messi!
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
Nobody could really believe
that he would go somewhere.
He's Leo Messi. He's supposed to
finish his career in Barcelona.
MESSI SNIFFS
Messi's Barca. Barca's Messi.
Messi's Barca.
He's a symbol of Barca.
They think, in Barcelona,
Messi is one of them.
A Catalan.
CROWD CHANT: Messi! Messi! Messi!
The Messis are a typical
Rosario family -
humble, from a
working-class background.
You could see those values,
the family values, in Leo, you know.
He married Antonela, his childhood
girlfriend from the neighbourhood.
He's still very close to that area,
to his friends.
DOG BARKS
He was a very small kid.
You know, he didn't speak.
He was very, very shy.
The first training session
we had with Leo, and I was playing
a bit more as a
defensive midfielder,
and we were doing this exercise
of one against one.
In my head, I'm thinking that
I'm going to get the ball easy,
you know, from him, because
I like to go on the floor
and I like to tackle.
But then I was seeing
that he was coming with...
The speed was not normal. He was
coming very, very fast at me,
and I was already shocked, because
I remember falling on the floor.
You know, I lost ability
and he scored the goal.
So, from that moment I said,
"Hold on a second,
"we need to take this
boy very, very seriously."
Before, it was not that normal
to see players
at that age coming from so far.
We were all from
the area, Barcelona.
If you were very good, they could
take you from somewhere in Spain.
So, of course, you know,
seeing someone coming from
so, so far away at such a young age,
we all thought,
"Wow, this boy must be something
really special."
Once in Barcelona, things didn't
work smoothly,
and six months after arrival,
there was a turning point of
everybody's life.
Leo's dad and mum, Celia and Jorge,
had been together
since they were teenagers.
Sister wasn't adapting.
Matias, he had a girlfriend back
in Rosario.
It was a time to decide - do we stay
in Barcelona
or do we go back to Rosario?
They sat around the table,
the whole family.
"Leo, what do you want to do?"
And Leo said, "I want to succeed.
"I want to be a Barcelona. I want
to be a professional player."
The consequences of that -
they hadn't told Leo, of course -
is that meant that Mum will take
sister and the two brothers back
to Rosario, and Dad will stay
with him.
You need to be mentally
very, very strong.
You need to have
a special character.
Otherwise, you don't succeed.
There is so many moments
where you feel weak,
where you... You know, your
head mislead you a little bit,
that you want to go back
to your family,
you want to go back to your habits,
to your grandparents,
to your friends,
to playing football
where you started.
So, I'm sure it was very tough,
but I want to believe that,
you know, we were good kids as well,
and we tried all the ways
to be next to him and help him
as much as we could.
There were moments,
a lot of moments,
where I'm sure Leo must have,
if not doubted,
at least wondered what
he's done to his family.
And often he would go into his room
and put his head under
the pillow and cry.
And he did that so his dad didn't
hear him cry,
because he then, at 14,15,
realised that because of his
decision, he couldn't get it wrong,
and basically now it was his time
to deliver.
Gerard Pique also left
the year after me,
and Gerard and I,
we were from Barcelona.
We were there because maybe
we were the best in Barcelona,
not because they saw us in
Argentina, 12 years old,
and they thought we could be one
of the best players in the world.
Hello.
The first time I saw him, actually,
was when we went to pre-season tour
to Asia with Barcelona.
And it was my second year there.
And, yeah, you're a lot
of young players
and the regular squad,
and Leo was coming with us,
and I haven't seen
him playing football,
but obviously I understood
that if he's with us,
he can play a little bit.
And I remember talking to
Giovanni van Bronckhorst
after the first practice,
"Who's that guy?"
And he said, "It's Lionel Messi."
He's from Barca B, he's going
to come in and play with us."
And I said, "Ah. Well, he can play."
His character back then was quiet,
breathing in the situation.
At the time, Ronaldinho was
the main man in the dressing room.
He was the number ten.
What he could do with the ball
was just incredible.
When I joined Barcelona,
when arriving in the changing Room,
Ronaldinho put me aside
and he started to speak with me
and he said, "Whatever you need,
I'm here for you."
He did exactly the same with Leo.
Him, Deco,
they were superstars,
but they were so humble.
With Leo, he understand he will
become in the future
one of the greatest of all time,
you know?
So, he was there for every
single moment.
When I saw Ronaldinho, I thought,
this is the best footballer
I will ever see, up until that day.
Ronaldinho handled everything
with a smile.
Leo is a little bit
more introvert,
but I think saw what it takes
to be the main man.
Leo Messi's brought
the Camp Nou to life!
We were meeting without Leo.
Sometimes we were speaking about his
talent, and we were making, like,
some kind of plans to make
him grow in the best way.
In that meeting, it was Deco,
Ronaldinho, Puyol, Xavi.
People who made history
not only in Barcelona
but in football world.
Perfect.
STADIUM ANNOUNCER:
Claudia Schiffer und Pele.
For the 2006 World Cup,
the whole FIFA machinery
is now making a thing about Messi.
And so there's buildings in Germany
with his picture,
and there's a lot riding
on this expectation.
Young Leo would have just won
the Youth World Cup,
and he was part of that generation
of young players coming through
with Jose Pekerman as the manager.
COMMENTATOR: Listen to the roar
that greets this young man.
It's only his eighth cap.
His nickname is The Flea.
In front, we play me and Saviola,
Tevez and Riquelme.
We were a great team.
He's coming and joins us
as a number 23 or 22,
in terms of the list.
Everyone wants to see Messi.
And Messi's already a name
and a thing,
but he's never played World Cup.
He was a really young player,
but at the same time show us -
everything, he can do it.
Pekerman plays Messi not
that much in that World Cup.
And in fact, when Argentina
go out to Germany,
Messi's on the bench.
COMMENTATOR: It's Germany!
Jens Lehmann is the hero.
Germany are into the last four!
This is the one instance, I think,
in the history of world football
where it was unanimous
that people were furious
that Messi didn't play.
Messi was furious,
the Argentinian FA were furious,
the fans were furious,
the journalists were furious.
Possibly FIFA were furious.
When you are eliminated
after the World Cup,
everyone wants to find the guilty,
every of us wants to...
"If I change that or that
to change the history."
The history, you never change it.
Leo started to accumulate games
and started to score goals
and to be different.
Those two years - 2006, 2007 -
were a turning point.
I was playing for Espanyol
and he was on the other side
of the city.
He had some friends, but he was shy
and I felt like I need
to look after him.
I need to make sure that
he's always good
and surrounded by nice people
because in football, when you...
..when you become a star,
everyone wants to come
and be your friend.
I was the only one to drive,
so I used to take him a few
times to some restaurant,
and I remember his father
talking and saying,
"Please, take care of him, you know,
look after Leo."
For me, it was like having an...
Imagine 80 million next to me.
HE CHUCKLES
The main thing was just to drop
Messi off in his house
and safe and all that.
Nobody knew me. That's...
I was playing for the other team of
the city,
but everyone knew Messi.
You started to see Rijkaard wanted
to play him more
because obviously, even at this
high level, he could...
..have great use of Lionel.
At one point, he scored when...
..when he wanted to score.
SPANISH COMMENTARY
At a time where you don't give
17-year-olds opportunities,
especially in Barcelona, the manager
will demand players
that are already matured
and that allow Barcelona to win.
It wasn't the done thing
to get youngsters through.
Yes, at some point.
For instance, Iniesta started making
an impact when he was 23,
Xavi when he was 22
At 17, it's just... It wasn't
the done thing.
But Frank gave him the opportunity.
Frank, for me, was the best
coach I had.
He had the right word in every
single moment for any one of us.
Frank could see the context
of the situation,
could see how important it was
that in the first few years
there wasn't so much demand
towards Messi.
He became like an older
brother to Leo.
I think he was lucky
to have the first coach Frank,
because Frank was different.
He always told him, "Leo,
you are a winger right now
"because you've got pace and you can
influence the game a lot in there,
"but you are going to be, at some
point, the main focal point.
"It could be under me
or under somebody else,
"because you're going to grow
to become a player that wins games."
COMMENTATOR: Xavi.
Messi.
SPANISH COMMENTARY
COMMENTATOR: But here's
Maradona again.
Has Burruchaga to his left,
and Valdano to his left.
He won't need any of them.
Oh! You have to say
that's magnificent.
Everybody said it's like
the Maradona magic is back
in the feet of this guy
from Rosario.
Pure football genius.
How do you compare yourself
to Maradona if you're Argentine?
I mean, the two goals
that Maradona scored
against England in 1986
were living out
an Argentine fantasy.
He already had become the big hope
of Argentinian football.
But of course, what everybody wanted
is not just that he becomes
the leader of Argentina and makes
them win the World Cup,
as Maradona had done -
people wanted him to be Maradona.
MUSIC: La Bamba
by Dusty Springfield
Maradona, Maradona, Maradona.
Diego brought so much joy
to the Argentinian people.
If you're creating a narrative,
you want disaster as well
as the triumph,
and Maradona had had that.
And he wins the World Cup.
The truth is, in terms of football,
they are so similar.
Off the pitch,
they're massively different.
Diego is a huge personality
off the pitch as well -
a massive ego, huge following.
Everywhere he went, his life
was madness.
Messi's quiet and much
calmer off the field.
Maradona, from the very moment
he arrives,
people realise this is...
I mean, his nickname
immediately was El Pibe de Oro -
the golden urchin,
the golden child, the golden boy.
It's that he looks like the ideal
of an Argentinian
and that he has this very
dramatic life story.
And so I guess that's the pressure -
he is always being compared directly
to Maradona,
but until he wins a World Cup,
he's never going to match him
for Argentinians.
Have you seen that advertisement
of a...
of a rabbit with, um...
..with drums.
He's got two batteries,
that rabbit.
You take one, it stops.
Messi had only one -
couldn't grow naturally.
What the hormones did,
once they identified
that he had a growth problem,
was to make him grow naturally.
That was already a test to his
endurance and his mental strength
because he just had to get
this little thing, open it,
injection, just put it into his leg,
and move on.
And to see an 11-year-old doing
that, it must have been a shock.
The way they worked at the time
was that agents proposed players
to the club and there were agents
that were close to Barcelona,
like Jose Maria Minguella.
He told Barcelona that it
would be a good idea to get him,
and the reaction from the club
was like,
"A 12-year-old from Argentina?"
That wasn't done and.
And, all right, they convinced
Barcelona to do a trial for Leo.
Charly Rexach, the director
of football at the time, arrived,
started walking as the game
was going on,
was looking at what Messi was doing,
must have been one minute, two,
sits on the bench and tells
the coaches,
"Exactly why you haven't signed
that guy yet?"
Because he was outstanding.
There was a meeting in a tennis club
and I think it was Charly who asked
for a napkin, paper napkin,
and a pen and just wrote
a few conditions.
And, you know,
"I, Charly Rexach, agrees
"that Leo Messi will be a player."
Barcelona signed it and gave
it to Minguella,
hoping that that was enough.
And, yes, that was enough.
Watching this Barcelona
team was brilliant.
That was Pep's first experience
as a coach in Barcelona
with probably the best Messi,
with prime Leo.
Pep improved Messi
and Messi improved Pep.
They were... They were
perfect together.
That was probably the best team he
played in, Barcelona at that time.
I mean, they were so strong,
weren't they?
With Iniesta and Xavi and
Pique and Puyol -
all these wonderfully
gifted players.
So if you've got a great team behind
you, that's going to help you.
However great you are,
you do need a team.
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE ANTHEM PLAYS
COMMENTATOR: It's Manchester United
against Barcelona
for the biggest European Cup prize
of them all.
SPANISH COMMENTARY
Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo...
We were ready for Messi, yeah.
We thought.
We'd played against him before
and we'd locked him down.
Um... But this was
a different Messi.
This was Messi who had more freedom
to run around
and pop up anywhere
and surprise you.
Pfft.
If you were picking out the five
best players in the world -
Messi, Ronaldo, right?
Xavi, Iniesta, and
many would argue Busquets.
So four of the top five players
in the world, arguably,
are playing in that one team.
COMMENTATOR: Barca lead 1-0.
Hold on, and they had Pep Guardiola.
Do you know what I mean?
What I used to do a lot
is gamble on their...
..their lack of ability to be able
to get the ball past me.
Problem was the person on the ball
was Xavi.
Si.
If you know your players,
you know who you're dealing with.
SPANISH COMMENTARY
Scores with a header!
Lionel Messi makes it
Barcelona 2-0 Manchester United.
When Messi scores the header
and everyone says,
"But, like, the size of you,
the size of him..."
An outrageous header, really.
He hasn't scored many of them
in his career
but he's done it in the big moment.
HORNS HONKING
CHANTING
Messi!
CHEERING
Barcelona ended up winning
absolutely everything
because he was the best player
in the world at the time.
The thing about him is that he took
it naturally.
You know, for him, it's in his
veins, it's in his blood.
He just wants to win at any cost.
Whatever he needs to do,
he will do to win.
Leo always wanted to win
something with Argentina.
He said many, many times that he
will swap all his individual awards
for winning something
with Argentina.
HE SINGS IN SPANISH
In 2010, as always, the expectations
were very high.
CHANTS IN SPANISH
Messi's the best player
in the world.
Better than Maradona. Better than
anybody. Better than Ronaldo.
Messi!
Diego Maradona in charge
with a very good group of players,
with Leo with a few years under his
belt as the main player.
The relationship was very good.
Diego loved Leo,
and for Leo, Diego obviously
was a hero.
It ended up in disaster.
COMMENTATOR: It's four!
Getting destroyed by Germany.
Maradona's Argentina are out.
I think the expectation to have
in the same squad Leo
and also Diego as a manager was...
..was difficult.
Things got very volatile
between Diego Maradona
and the whole Argentina
football world.
INAUDIBLE
Maradona thrived on conflict.
His fuel was this very nice word
from Argentinian slang
- bronca.
Argentina against the world,
him against the other players.
He really fed off this sense
of conflict.
I think Messi is evolutionarily
more advanced
and rather than thriving on
conflict, he thrives on cooperation,
which is really...in the kind of
evolutionary term,
survival has always come about
through cooperation
rather than competition.
And so Messi needs to be part
of a well-oiled,
harmonious machinery
that is about him being in
a cooperative system.
COMMENTATOR: We're at Wembley
and it's the 2011
Champions League final,
arguably the biggest game
in football.
The finals where we got Barcelona,
unfortunately for us, we were facing
the best team in the world
with one of the best players
that's ever, ever put on a pair
of football boots.
I look at it now and think, you know
what, how unlucky is that, really?"
To get to two finals and we bump
into them. It's a liberty really.
Si. It shouldn't be allowed.
COMMENTATOR: Xavi.
On to the unmarked Pedro.
And it's a goal for Barcelona!
Messi was just
like...no eye contact,
nothing. He just separated himself.
He just played away from you.
And then, all of a sudden, he'd turn
up - bang.
Sir Alex Ferguson said that he
should've put Ji-sung
Park on him maybe.
If anyone could've done it,
he would've been the guy.
But I've watched some of the clips
in that game
and he moves Ji-sung Park about.
Woo-woomp, moves him, see you later.
He would have slowed him down maybe,
which maybe would have been enough.
But does that stop prime-time
Lionel Messi?
I very much doubt it.
I don't think one player can do it.
Iniesta. Messi still lurking deep.
The ball played between Xavi
and Iniesta once more.
Messi's available.
Messi given the ball.
Scurries forward.
What a goal from Lionel Messi!
SPANISH COMMENTARY
I remember standing on the pitch
and just going,
"We just need to get off here
because they've just took..."
"They've took our soul, basically."
And Messi was the main ingredient.
The Pep years were probably
the start of Messi's peak.
It's been a long peak!
I get a bit carried away by Messi.
I don't mind admitting that
because he fills me with joy.
If I had one game left on Earth,
I'd watch Messi
because Messi stirs the soul.
Never fails to take
the breath away.
He does four or five things in every
game I would never have been able
to do once in my entire career.
He's running with the ball,
tighter control than anyone,
quicker than anybody,
and the agility to be able
to change direction,
all with his head up.
Just a wonderful footballer, man.
Just, like, can't even put it
into words, how good is.
Sometimes I thought about it
like if it was me who scored
that many goals,
like, how would you feel?
You know, because sometimes
I score a goal.
I scored only one hattrick
in my career and I was, like,
I couldn't sleep for two days!
But he must have felt this
every game he plays.
There doesn't seem too much
of an ego with him.
I remember being at a Barcelona game
once, sort of backstage,
and he walked past with
all the other Barcelona players
and it was almost like
a sort of school trip,
with Xavi and Iniesta,
but he just didn't,
he wasn't leading things,
just seemed part of the team.
Many of our superstars,
they're much bigger personalities
off the pitch as well.
He's not, he's the opposite.
He keeps himself to himself.
So, he's a little bit of an enigma
in that sense.
I do remember interviewing him
in Barcelona once
and after the interview,
I was waiting in the car park
and there were loads of tourists
going to the museum and the shop
and people milling about.
And there was a guy that worked
at the stadium chatting
to a younger guy who was leaning
against the car, eating an apple.
And it took me quite a while
to realise
that the younger guy was Messi.
You know, nobody noticed
he was there.
I don't know what that is,
but I know that other players,
even of that same Barcelona team,
would have garnered more attention
in a public space like that.
His wife is his childhood
sweetheart.
There's nothing wrong with that.
That's fine. That's great.
But there's a sense that a lot
of things in his life are exactly
the same now as they were
when he was sort of 15, 16.
And I guess, you know, his lifestyle
hasn't changed that much.
Turns up to training.
Do your training,
do your fitness work.
Go home, play a bit of PlayStation.
There's something about him
that just makes him not stand out...
..unless he's on the pitch.
2014 World Cup. Millions of
Argentina descend on Brazil.
The teams play well.
Leo play very, very well.
That's what they came for, by train,
plane and automobile.
50,000 Argentines have found
their way to Rio
and Lionel Messi
finally rewards them.
We get to the final
with a lot of hope.
They all expect
Leo to win and do everything.
At some point, it was so much
pressure on Leo.
He's not a person,
he doesn't like to talk too much.
He said a few words
before the game against Germany.
As a leader, you don't need to speak
all the time.
Sometimes you have leaders
in the team that they probably
don't speak too much.
But then in the right moment
to talk to someone is the moment
to say something and
everyone listen.
Guys, we're in the World Cup final.
Whatever happen today,
if we win, we lose,
just let enjoy the game and,
you know, that coming from Leo,
that he's been in Champions League
final,
he's one of the greatest players
in the world,
but he knew that that day
and that game was special.
It was a dream for him, being in
the World Cup final as well.
The difference is, it's big,
winning or losing the World Cup.
Because if you win, you can say
for the rest of your lives,
I'm a World Cup champion.
The flag has stayed down
this time...
Messi's missed.
With the crowd just waiting to roar.
If you lose, it's like, how long
is it going to take again
to be in a World Cup final? So...
..that's why that day is, like...
Shurrle. Working it in.
Chance for Gotze!
Mario Gotze scores for Germany!
Germany are champions of the world.
After the game was, like...
It was terrible.
We were all crying like babies
because, you know,
it was very close.
Still hurting.
There's the extraordinary image
at the end of that game when Messi
is presented with the
Player of the Tournament award
and he looks totally devastated.
You know, he's trying to be polite,
but his face is saying,
I just want to get out of here.
When you lost a World Cup final...
..you don't need to say anything.
A few pictures of Leo
looking at the World Cup.
A tough one to take.
You want to see the best player
of the modern age
having a great tournament
in the greatest tournament.
Shortly afterwards,
the mood changed.
There was this extraordinary demand
from Argentina
that because he performed
so fantastically with Barcelona,
he somehow had decided not
to perform that well with Argentina.
Although Messi still speaks
with an Argentinian accent,
he eats Argentinian food, although
he watches Argentinian films,
listens to Argentinian music,
there's still a sense in Argentina
he's a bit European.
I remember being in Santa Fe
and the bloke reading out the teams
for the game said,
wearing the ten, the greatest
in the world, Lionel Messi -
sort of half hearted applause -
and wearing the 11,
the player of the people,
el jugador del pueblo, Carlos Tevez,
and everybody goes berserk
because Tevez was seen as being
more truly Argentinian.
There's no sense that his genius
has been hard wrought.
There's no sense of
any kind of suffering.
And I think there's a feeling, not
just in Argentina, but that geniuses
should somehow suffer
for their greatness.
And Maradona, that was front
and centre, whereas Messi,
and it's ridiculous to criticise
somebody for this,
it's just been season after season
after season of relentless
excellence, and particularly
for somebody who's never played
league football in Argentina,
that creates that sense of distance.
I think 2016 was the big change.
The Copa America is the Euros
of South America.
To get to the final is very hard.
There's no easy games.
So, in 2015, Argentina would play
Chile in the final.
Drew 0-0, lost on penalties.
Same thing happens in 2016
in the US,
in the Copa America Centenario.
It is Messi who misses the penalty.
PORTUGUESE COMMENTARY
We lost three finals,
three years in a row.
So, that's where the pressure
started to build.
He looked visibly like someone
who just can't take it any more.
That was a very difficult moment
for us.
That was the third final
that we lost in a row.
So, we were very, very sad.
I cried that day. You know, it broke
my heart, you know.
You know, he burst into tears
in the middle of the pitch.
I said, you know, how can we,
how can we come to this, you know?
Here he comes.
Very surprised, no,
because our capitano, our leader...
..was going to leave the team,
was very difficult.
What that miss did was
to humanise him.
Any doubts people in Argentina had
about how much he cared
disappeared at that moment.
His tears and his obvious anguish,
that's when it changes.
And suddenly there's
this desperation of
we've got to get Messi
to winning something.
People were writing odes, saying,
"I love you just the way you are.
I don't need a cup."
On the underground, these messages,
"Lionel, please come back."
And everyone pleaded to the point
that eventually the entire football
association rebuilt itself, hired
managers that would make sure
he was comfortable and he returned.
Our national colours mean a lot
to us.
He would not have wanted to stay
in history like he gave up.
And he's not a quitter.
First time European champions...
..kings of Europe..
..are Portugal.
Messi didn't win it for Argentina
while his nemesis, Ronaldo,
wins the Euros and is
in the top of the world.
When everything calms down and sees
that Ronaldo keeps succeeding,
he cannot deny that
that rivalry makes him better.
Ronaldo, Messi, were actually
in the same league,
fighting for the same titles,
including the individual ones.
I think one of the Ballon d'Ors
that Ronaldo won,
something turned in his stomach
and thought,
it's going to be me next year.
Just look at the stats.
There'll be a couple of goals
from Ronaldo,
Messi will score three.
They will be three from Messi,
Ronaldo will score
another hat-trick.
As they become older and
start having kids,
one thing that happens
is that they recognise
is that their journey
was very similar.
Both of them had to leave home
at 12, 13.
Both of them had to beat
a lot of obstacles.
In the case of Ronaldo, bullying
and jokes about his accent,
about his skin, about what,
his looks, and in the case of Messi,
he had to battle
his chronic shyness
to actually have a little bit
of a presence off the pitch.
Now, there is no friendship,
but what there is is an admission
or recognition of admiration
of one to another.
Mbappe...
Mbappe!
It is France who've won through
to the World Cup quarterfinals.
How could it possibly be that player
that good could go
through his entire career
and not win a senior trophy?
You know, this is somebody
who's given so much to the game,
who's been so brilliant for so long,
and you sort of feel
football sort of owes him one.
Suddenly we were back in Brazil,
a few years back
after the disappointment of the
World Cup, and this was even nicer
because at the Maracana
it was not the Germans, Brazil.
Like it was meant to happen,
you know?
Before, everyone expecting Messi
to do everything, to get the ball,
dribble four or five players
and score into the top corner.
And I think we understood, this
young team, how to play for him.
It was, like, guys,
it was meant to be.
We were supposed to play
in Argentina.
They change last minute.
Back in Brazil. We've been 40 days
away from our families.
And he said something about me
that obviously I will never forget.
He said, "Emi saw his daughter born
on FaceTime, you know.
"He couldn't even give her a cuddle.
"So, let's do it for him."
I had butterflies on my tummy
when he was saying that
and he nearly made me cry
just before the game started.
Argentina lead, thanks to a moment
of magic from Angel Di Maria!
Everyone ran to Leo...
..to say, "We won it."
Everybody were really happy for him.
I hugged him so hard and said,
"We did it."
You know, I was crying.
I'm a very emotional guy.
I had to grab him in the air,
you know, like, here,
you know, come here.
Like my little, like my boy,
Santi, you know, like...
I love the guy, man.
He won everything - Ballon d'Or,
Champions Leagues,
and he hugged that cup
like he was the baby.
He left all the trophies outside
to win this one.
You've got to take it in
before this guy leaves the pitch
for the last time.
No-one is like Leo Messi.
It's impossible to arrive
to that level.
It's impossible.
That's the legacy,
because if he has done it,
somebody else will do it
at some point.
It's possible.
But I can tell you that right now,
it feels impossible.
I don't think we will ever see
someone like him again.
At least not in my time.