In an interview on the YouTube channel Clank! On his birthday June 24, Lionel Messi talked about his natural football talent, the reason he walks a lot in matches and the impact of Pep Guardiola’s style on modern football.
Yesterday Messi celebrated his 37th birthday. At this age, he has won every title possible in top-level club football, including four Champions Leagues, 10 La Ligas, two Ligue 1s with Barca and PSG. At the national team level, he won the 2022 World Cup, the 2021 Copa America, the 2022 Intercontinental Super Cup, the 2005 U20 World Cup and the 2008 Olympic gold medal. Messi holds the record for winning 44 collective titles.
Personally, Messi owns eight Golden Balls, six European Golden Shoes and two World Cup Golden Balls. He is the only player to win the Golden Ball in three different decades and win four consecutive Golden Balls. “It’s clear that I was born like this because God chose me,” Messi said. “This is God’s gift to me. I try and do everything I can to make the most of that gift.”
Messi in a chat on Clank channel.
Messi , who began his playing career at hometown club Newell’s Old Boys and joined Barca’s famous La Masia training facility at the age of 13, admitted he was not aware of how special he was.
“According to others, I have always been different,” said the 2022 World Cup champion. “People came to watch me. I didn’t realize it, but I started to understand it as I grew up. I don’t really know when I realized it. When I was 3 or 4 years old, I didn’t know about World Cup and all the other tournaments. I just play because I love soccer, it’s my hobby. I spend all my time playing soccer and finding people to play with most Argentines, from a very young age I always tried to have fun, as I did from day one.”
Despite all the records and titles, Messi said he learned a lot from his failures. The 37-year-old forward lost three consecutive finals, before helping Argentina beat Brazil 1-0 in the final at the Maracana to win the 2021 Copa America. “I don’t like to relive or watch them, but in the long run, they help you and make you mature,” he said of his previous failures. The most painful of these was Argentina’s loss on penalties to Chile in the 2016 Copa America final. At that time, the pressure caused the Argentine star to decide to retire from international football at the age of 29, before returning about two months later for the sake of his teammates and fans.
“Without a doubt, it was the most painful defeat because it was the third final in a row,” Messi said. “We played well that year, got to the final and showed that we were much better than the rest. In the final against Chile, although we didn’t have many clear chances, we were also superior in terms of the way we played, but we lost in the penalty shootout.”
Messi and teammates celebrate winning the 2022 World Cup. Photo: Reuters.
Messi matured significantly while playing under Pep Guardiola from 2008-2012. The two teachers and students won three La Liga, two King’s Cups, two Champions Leagues and two FIFA Club World Cups during this period. Guardiola’s ideology has inspired and been absorbed and applied by many other coaches to their respective clubs, especially Mikel Arteta at Arsenal. Enzo Maresca and Vincent Kompany – who worked with Guardiola – created miracles in the Championship and were appointed head coaches by Chelsea and Bayern Munich respectively.
Messi said he learned a lot from Guardiola, from tactics, space and ball control. But the owner of eight Golden Balls believes that Guardiola’s style has created “great confusion” in football. “Now everyone wants to play like Guardiola,” said the Argentine striker. “They tell six- and seven-year-olds to play with two touches and quick passes. At that age, these children must experience what I experienced. We cannot take away their spontaneity.” “.
Messi and Guardiola when they worked together at Barca.
During his peak playing years, a special habit of Messi was that he often walked on the field, observed carefully and then exploded when receiving the ball from his teammates.
“I’m very self-critical. I’m the first to know what I’m doing right and what I’m doing wrong,” he says. “When I’m walking, I analyse the opponents’ positions, how we stand without the ball, how to stay away from the marker so we can start a counter-attack. I don’t pay much attention to GPS, statistics or data. I’ve never cared how much I run in a game.”
Messi added about his experience at Newell’s Old Boys: “Two or three times a week we were asked to run around the pitch. I used to hide behind a tree. Running without the ball was never fun for me.”
