The diminutive genius talks us through the most iconic moments of his illustrious career, with journalists, teammates and opponents offering insight and analysis into the goals and games that will define his legacy.
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00:00The truth is that at that moment I wasn't thinking about anything, I was enjoying playing
00:29in the Camp Nou, to be able to participate in the first of Barcelona, the truth is that
00:36it didn't start at the time of the goal.
00:59The truth is that at that moment I wasn't thinking about anything, I was enjoying playing
01:28in the Camp Nou, to be able to participate in the first of Barcelona, the truth is that
01:54it didn't start at the time of the goal.
02:25To be honest, there wasn't much of a buzz about Messi making his debut with the team,
02:30because at the time it was just a kid that came in with number 30, with a shirt that
02:34was bigger than his size really, so when he actually came up into the first team to train
02:40and he had already jumping teams because he had been in the B-side not for long, but obviously
02:48Rijkaard realised under the recommendation of some of the coaches in the academy that
02:52he was a special talent, so they decided to bring him into the first team, and at
02:55the end of that first training session, Ronaldinho approached somebody and said, that guy who
03:03has just come in, 17 years old, is going to be better than me.
03:07This is Ronaldinho, who was the number one in the world at the time, but realised that
03:11there was something very, very special there.
03:13It was a very quick play, where the goalkeeper was half way, where the ball was just sticking
03:27to me, to throw it up, the truth is that everything was given to define it that way.
03:35It was a very nice moment, the way they celebrated it with me, the joy of everything, it was
03:42very nice.
03:48Ronaldinho looked after him, and Ronaldinho wanted to give him the ball, and then of course
03:52Ronaldinho asked him to jump on top of him, and you could see this kid, this young Argentinian
03:58jumping on the back of what he was at the time, the best player in the world, Brazilian,
04:03so Brazilian and Argentinian, but they got on very well, and you could see in there that
04:09Ronaldinho had a special feeling, and still has, for Messi, and vice versa as well.
04:14That relationship grew, and that allowed, for good and bad reasons, allowed Messi to
04:20learn a lot.
04:39It was a very beautiful day, for what it meant to score a goal in the World Cup, I think
04:46it was the second game, the first one hadn't gone in, I had to go in for a while to score
04:52a goal, and it was very nice.
05:09We touched the ball 27 times, I think, and Biaso scored.
05:12Messi started on the bench, I think, and then he came on later, and then he added to that
05:16festival.
05:17We smashed two pieces, one of the toughest defences in world football, but then we thought,
05:24you know, we did okay, maybe it is fine, Messi coming in, bringing something extra, but not
05:31at the time, he was a good player, a very good player, but not what was about to come.
05:40It was incredible to be able to score those three goals in the Clásico.
05:46Well, it was beautiful to be able to score three goals against Madrid, for what it means,
05:52because it is a game where you see and follow everyone.
06:10Leo Messi really changes the mood of the team, of everyone.
06:16When you see Leo Messi in his eyes, I know how to see him, I have known him for 15 or
06:2216 years, I look him in the eyes and I see in his eyes when he decides to win the games,
06:29and I see in the eyes of Messi when he is able to create an absolute psychosis in the
06:37opponent.
06:38He, like Ronaldo did, the chubby one, the phenomenon, provokes fear, provokes fear,
06:45and that fear immobilizes the opponent.
06:48He is one of the few footballers who is able to freeze the image.
06:54It seems that the rest of the defences do not move, it seems as if they were frozen by
06:59the effect of Leo Messi.
07:01Leo Messi provokes that effect, and it provokes it especially in Real Madrid players.
07:07The truth is that I do not think about the play when I am between a field.
07:23It is given and it is given like that, the spaces are opened and you find the way to continue
07:32and you end up with the goal.
07:35But it was worth receiving the ball, the truth is that I did not imagine anything.
07:39No, what I always remember is a play in training, the boys from Barça B, we always
07:45mix the team, I was with a player from Barça B, Messi faced him, and I was behind
07:51against the goal.
07:52I said, don't go in, don't go in.
07:55Then the boy went back, went back.
07:57I said, stop, stop.
07:58And when he went to kick, we stood up and just did like this, inside, both on the floor,
08:03with the ball on one side.
08:04So, if you go in, he will kick you, if you go in, he will kick you too.
08:09So it's almost impossible to score him.
08:11Messi and I have been facing each other since the basic categories, when Messi really
08:16emerged in football in 2005, that World Cup in Holland, we made the semifinals, Brazil
08:21and Argentina, and he was the best player in the match, he was the best player in the
08:26competition.
08:27So there, everyone already saw that a phenomenon was being born there.
08:31Everyone goes hard on him, gives him a hard kick, and he doesn't answer anything.
08:35He doesn't complain.
08:36I've never seen him complaining, not even a stronger kick.
08:39This is differential.
08:40Everyone knows that the more you hit, the more he will come up.
08:43So it's cool, I think I admire him.
09:02The truth is that this championship, this journey, was one of the most special in my
09:07career, one of the most remembered, the most beautiful, because of what the Olympic Games
09:11mean.
09:12Not only because we were champions, that we were lucky to get it, but because of the
09:17experience that I had to live in the short time that we were in the Olympic Village.
09:22I have very nice memories of that championship.
09:27Well, the Olympics were an outstanding day.
09:29We tried many times, we lost finals, and it was special.
09:35Bielsa convinced everybody that it was worth it.
09:39Leo, I think he had these issues with Barcelona about being released.
09:45He managed to get there.
09:46It was very important.
09:48It was an outstanding day.
09:49We won World Cups, but the Olympic Games is something that we really, really wanted.
09:53In fact, our neighbours, the Brazilians, they had to wait a bit longer than us, and
09:56they also waited for a long time.
09:58So the Olympic football is not a World Cup, but it's very, very important.
10:02It was something that Leo Messi was fundamental to achieve.
10:11But for anybody to doubt what he's been doing for Argentina, it's outrageous.
10:17And I think they probably will realize when he's gone.
10:19In a way, Argentina is living a golden era because they've been in a World Cup final,
10:25they've been in two American Cup finals, and when you win or lose, it's just down to little details.
10:33It could have gone one way or the other.
10:35Some of them, of course, were goals in extra time or were wins at the penalty shootout.
10:42So to say that Leo Messi is not doing well with Argentina is basically not realizing
10:48that they are living a special moment.
10:57Well, it can happen.
10:58There are games that happen in different ways.
11:01I also had to go to Madrid and lose by four goals.
11:05There are circumstances that happen.
11:08Games that, for one thing or another, are decided in that way.
11:12That time we didn't have to win like that.
11:17It's special for everyone because of how we won at the Bernabéu.
11:20It was a new position for me in that game.
11:27We had invented something new with me and we would probably be talking about all of that.
11:36Well, for sure, it's not the easiest player to stop.
11:40You know, he has so many qualities and he can do so many different things
11:45that it's difficult to find out how to stop him.
11:49I remember in that game, when the game was over, we were on the plane together
11:56and I said to him, have you seen the best game of Leo Messi?
12:01And he said, no, the best game will be the next one.
12:05But that day, you could see the faces of the people at the Bernabéu
12:11and everyone was saying, for God's sake, why Messi at Barça?
12:23Yes, of course, at that moment I thought and imagined that goal and I understood it.
12:30And thanks to God, it came out and it was a very important goal in every way.
12:38For me individually, for the team, for how we got to the final.
12:43The truth is that it was one of my most beautiful goals for me.
12:49The truth is that at that moment it seemed difficult for me to win with Ferdinand in front.
12:56But it fell right where I was, where there was no mark and it was right in the middle.
13:11We always tried to defend ourselves well.
13:15We had a very good team that defended itself very well.
13:18There was Ferdinand, there was Vida, there was Patrisson.
13:21There were players who were already experienced in football
13:23and we knew we were playing with a great quality team.
13:25At the same time, we had to defend ourselves, but we had players to attack,
13:29like Cristiano Ronaldo, like Tev, like Rooney, like Edson Parque, like Giggs.
13:33So, for us, we were at the same level as Barcelona this year,
13:36because we had already won the English championship
13:38and we were also playing our second league championship in a row,
13:42so we were quite confident.
13:44It was at that moment in the game where we were on top of Barcelona.
13:48Where Tevez had missed a ball, where he had crossed,
13:51he had kicked the ball, the goalkeeper had caught it,
13:54we were on top of Barcelona.
13:56At the moment of carelessness, we ended up scoring a goal in this cross by Daniel Alves.
14:00The 2009 Champions League final started really in the Clásico, previously,
14:08because, just before the Clásico, Tev Guardiola asked, very late in the day,
14:14Leo Messi to come to the training ground,
14:17Messi doesn't live far away from it,
14:20and showed him some clips, some videos, and said,
14:22you know that space here, in between all the midfielders and the centre-backs,
14:26I want you to play there.
14:27That was the beginning of the false nine role that he played for Barcelona.
14:32Barcelona killed Real Madrid,
14:34but, of course, it seems to me that Manchester United had not stood that game properly,
14:38because what happened in the Champions League final
14:41was that Messi started on the right-hand side,
14:44Eto'o was in the centre of the attack,
14:46and after ten minutes, having Cristiano Ronaldo had a chance for Manchester United,
14:52that could have put them ahead, it was still 0-0,
14:55and Tev Guardiola asked Eto'o and Messi to change places.
14:58So, Eto'o went on the right-hand side, Messi came inside,
15:01and then he became not just a false nine, but linked as well with the midfield.
15:05They created superiority in the midfield,
15:08Manchester United did not know how to deal with that,
15:11and, basically, that was the beginning of the victory of Barcelona.
15:16It's a beautiful thing to be the winner of such a beautiful, important league,
15:23that at the end of the day, the final score is a chance for us to win.
15:28And, of course, we were lucky to get that chance,
15:32and we need to win every time,
15:34we need to win every time we get a chance,
15:37but, we need to win every time we get a chance.
15:40It's beautiful to be the winner of such a beautiful and important league,
15:45that so many players from all over the world have qualified for this league,
15:50and to be the top scorer is a very good statistic.
15:58I remember when I broke the record, I was talking to Leo,
16:02do you remember? He was a legend, he had an absolute record,
16:07and he told me, I don't play for records, I play to have a good time.
16:37Above all that, there was one thing coinciding, and that was Messi.
16:41So we're talking about the team that perhaps is one of the greatest in history,
16:44certainly one that has changed history, but again, it coincides that has Messi in it.
16:50The truth is that it was a round day because of how everything went.
17:02To score the 500th goal, the 3-2 in the last minute,
17:07a game where if we didn't win, we practically said goodbye to LaLiga.
17:14A goal that gave us hope to continue dreaming of LaLiga.
17:19A game that we deserved to win because of how it went,
17:23and winning in the last minute was very special for all Barcelona fans.
17:30For me, because he's the best player in the world,
17:34he managed to be at the same level for 10 years,
17:39and his level is different from the rest.
17:42To be able to do that in 10 years is something very few or almost nothing.
17:49Then you add the quality that he has, and you become the best in history.
17:57I think I win everything in a game or in a player.
18:16Messi is a surreal player, a player from another planet.
18:29He's one of the greatest in the last years, and he's so influential for Barcelona.
18:47ImpossĂvel is able to do simple things.
18:55In training, he does things that no one else does,
19:00but in a way that almost no one tries to do.
19:03I think that's what makes him different.
19:06The least I can say about him is that he doesn't talk much.
19:17He's an inexplicable player on the pitch.
19:26Messi is a source of happiness.
19:29Happiness to a higher degree.
19:31Here they say that Messi is better than making love with your partner.
19:35That's what people here in Barcelona feel.
19:46This question about Messi being the greatest player ever,
19:49it's one that perhaps in 10 years' time we'll look back and say,
19:52why did we even ask?
20:05For more information visit www.barcelona.com