6.20发表于电讯报，不负责翻译。
I remember very well the first day that a small boy with long hair, who was very, very shy and could only play with his left foot, came to Barcelona. We were 13 and we were told he was from Argentina and that he was on trial.
In just the second training session with us, I found out how good Lionel Messi was one-on-one. Believe it or not, when I was little, I was quite good at tackling and nobody could get past me because I was quite aggressive.
The coach split us into pairs and he told me ‘listen, you can’t let this boy get past once. You have to kick him until he doesn’t want to play any more’. I was a bit surprised because we were only 13, but Leo was so small I did not think it was going to be any problem.
I was confident he was not going to get past me, but straight away he left me on the floor with his first go. It is something I will always remember, his one-on-one was amazing already at that age. I made sure I did the exercise with someone else after that.
But after a few days the boy had to go back to Argentina and we did not see or hear about Leo again for six months before he returned. He came back like a different boy, more secure, and he just kept improving.
It was not long afterwards, when we were 14, that Leo did something that will always stay in my mind - just as much as all the amazing goals he has scored for Barcelona and Argentina.
We played against Espanyol twice at the end of the season, to decide the youth title and then the in the Copa Catalunya final, which is a bit like the FA Youth Cup for Barcelona. Tito Vilanova was our coach.
It was two straight games and in the second half of the first game, Leo went for a header and his eye socket was broken. It was a bad injury and he had to go off. We were already winning the first game 2-0, so the title was won, but we thought he would be out of the cup final.
Funnily enough, Carles Puyol had recently suffered the same injury with the first team, so he had a mask. Tito Vilanova asked if he could borrow the mask for Messi to play the final. He trained the day before the game to see if he felt comfortable and he did not complain, so the coach said ‘ok let’s play him’.
Tito Vilanova changed the formation that day, he put Leo as a false nine, as Pep Guardiola did for the first team, with me behind him in the number 10 position. After 12 minutes, I will always remember, we were winning 3-0. Leo scored two goals and made one assist, and in the 13th minute Tito Vilanova took him off and we won the final 4-0.
So Leo only played for 13 minutes and he won the final for us in the first 12 minutes. It was one of those moments, when you start to know this guy will be special, a genius.
I remember very well the first day that a small boy with long hair, who was very, very shy and could only play with his left foot, came to Barcelona. We were 13 and we were told he was from Argentina and that he was on trial.
In just the second training session with us, I found out how good Lionel Messi was one-on-one. Believe it or not, when I was little, I was quite good at tackling and nobody could get past me because I was quite aggressive.
The coach split us into pairs and he told me ‘listen, you can’t let this boy get past once. You have to kick him until he doesn’t want to play any more’. I was a bit surprised because we were only 13, but Leo was so small I did not think it was going to be any problem.
I was confident he was not going to get past me, but straight away he left me on the floor with his first go. It is something I will always remember, his one-on-one was amazing already at that age. I made sure I did the exercise with someone else after that.
But after a few days the boy had to go back to Argentina and we did not see or hear about Leo again for six months before he returned. He came back like a different boy, more secure, and he just kept improving.
It was not long afterwards, when we were 14, that Leo did something that will always stay in my mind - just as much as all the amazing goals he has scored for Barcelona and Argentina.
We played against Espanyol twice at the end of the season, to decide the youth title and then the in the Copa Catalunya final, which is a bit like the FA Youth Cup for Barcelona. Tito Vilanova was our coach.
It was two straight games and in the second half of the first game, Leo went for a header and his eye socket was broken. It was a bad injury and he had to go off. We were already winning the first game 2-0, so the title was won, but we thought he would be out of the cup final.
Funnily enough, Carles Puyol had recently suffered the same injury with the first team, so he had a mask. Tito Vilanova asked if he could borrow the mask for Messi to play the final. He trained the day before the game to see if he felt comfortable and he did not complain, so the coach said ‘ok let’s play him’.
Tito Vilanova changed the formation that day, he put Leo as a false nine, as Pep Guardiola did for the first team, with me behind him in the number 10 position. After 12 minutes, I will always remember, we were winning 3-0. Leo scored two goals and made one assist, and in the 13th minute Tito Vilanova took him off and we won the final 4-0.
So Leo only played for 13 minutes and he won the final for us in the first 12 minutes. It was one of those moments, when you start to know this guy will be special, a genius.
