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
01:41it didn't start at the time of the goal.
01:53I had been training with them for a long time and I already had all the tranquility and
02:02confidence necessary of the whole squad and the coach to be able to debut with tranquility.
02:09I remember that it was a very special day for me because of what it meant, because of the dream I had.
02:40And he had already been jumping teams because he had been in the B-side not for long, but
02:46obviously Rijkaard realised under the recommendation of some of the coaches in the academy that
02:51he was a special talent, so they decided to bring him into the first team.
02:55And at the end of that first training session, Ronaldinho approached somebody and said,
03:02that guy who just came in, 17 years old, is going to be better than me.
03:06This is Ronaldinho, who was the number one in the world at the time, but realised that
03:10there was something very, very special there.
03:20It was a very quick play, where the goalkeeper was in the middle of the way, where the ball
03:26was just enough for me to shoot it up.
03:31It was a very nice moment, the way they celebrated it with me, the joy of everyone, it was very nice.
04:01The best player in the world, Brazilian, so Brazilian and Argentinian, but they got on
04:05very well and you could see in there that Ronaldinho had a special feeling, and still
04:10has, for Messi and vice versa as well.
04:13That relationship grew and that allowed, for good and bad reasons, allowed Messi to learn a lot.
04:31It was a very beautiful day, for what it meant to score a goal in the World Cup, I think
04:45it was the second game, the first one hadn't gone in, I had to go in for a while to score
04:51a goal and it was very nice.
05:02That was a great game, there were some great goals, some great football, there was a goal
05:07that we all remember, we touched the ball 27 times, I think Ambiasso scored.
05:11Messi started on the bench, I think, and then he came on later, and then he added to that
05:15festival, we smashed two pieces, one of the toughest defences in world football, but then
05:22we thought, we did OK, maybe it is fine, Messi coming in, bringing something extra, but not
05:30at the time, he was a good player, a very good player, but not what was about to come.
05:37It was incredible to be able to score those three goals, it was incredible.
05:43It was beautiful to be able to score three goals against Madrid, for what it means, because
05:49it is a game where you see and follow everyone.
06:07Leo Messi really changes the mood of the team, of everyone.
06:13When you see Leo Messi in his eyes, I know how to see him, I have known him for 15, 16 years,
06:20I look him in the eyes and I see in his eyes when he decides to win the games.
06:26And I see in Messi's eyes when he is able to create an absolute psychosis in the field,
06:34in the opponent.
06:37He, as Ronaldo did, the chubby, the phenomenon, provokes fear, provokes fear, and that fear
06:46immobilizes the opponent.
06:48He is one of the few footballers who is able to freeze the image, it seems that the rest
06:54of the defences do not move, it seems as if they were frozen by the effect of Leo Messi.
07:00Leo Messi provokes that effect, and it provokes it above all in the players of Real Madrid.
07:16No, the truth is that I did not think anything, the truth is that I do not think about the play when
07:21I am between a field.
07:23It goes on, and well, it went on like that, it went on opening the space, it was finding
07:30the way to continue, and well, it ended up in the goal that ended up being, but it was
07:35worth receiving the ball, the truth is that I did not imagine anything.
07:38No, what I always remember is a play in training, the boys from Barça B, we always
07:44mix the team, I was with a player from Barça B that Messi faced him, and I was
07:50against the goal.
07:51I said, do not go in, do not go in.
07:54Then the boy went back, went back, I said, stop, stop.
07:57And when he went to kick, we just did it like this, inside, the two on the floor,
08:02I just did the goal to one side.
08:04So, if you go in, he will take you out of the base, if you hold on, he will take you out
08:08too.
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
08:16appeared in soccer 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 he already, everyone already saw that a phenomenon was being born there.
08:31Everyone goes hard on him, gives him a lot of hard entry, and he does not answer anything.
08:34He does not complain, I have never seen him complaining, not even a stronger footprint.
08:38This is differential, everyone knows that the more you hit, the more he will come up.
08:43So it's cool, I think I admire him.
08:46The truth is that this championship, this trip, was one of the most special in my career,
09:06one of the most remembered, the most beautiful for what the Olympic Games mean, not only
09:13for being champions, that we were lucky to get it, but for the experience that I had
09:19to live in the short time that we were in the Olympic Village.
09:22I have very nice memories of that championship.
09:26Well, the Olympics were an outstanding event.
09:29We tried many times, we lost finals, and it was special.
09:34Bielsa convinced everybody that it was worth it.
09:39Leo, I think he had these issues with Barcelona about being released.
09:44He managed to get there.
09:46It was very important.
09:47It was an outstanding day.
09:48We 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,
09:56and they 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.
10:09But for anybody to doubt what he's been doing for Argentina, it's outrageous.
10:15And I think they probably will realise when he's gone.
10:18In a way, Argentina is living a golden era, because they've been in a World Cup final,
10:24they've been in two American Cup finals, and when you win or lose,
10:30it's just down to little details.
10:32It could have gone one way or the other.
10:34Some of them, of course, were goals in extra time or were wins at penalty shoot-outs.
10:42So to say that Leo Messi is not doing well with Argentina is basically not realising
10:47that they are living a special moment.
10:56It can happen.
10:57It's a game.
10:59It happens in different ways.
11:01I also had to go to Madrid and I lost by four goals.
11:05These are circumstances that happen in a game,
11:08that one thing or another is decided in that way.
11:11And well, that time we didn't have to win like that.
11:16It's special for everyone because of how we won at the Bernabéu,
11:19because it had been a new position for me in that game,
11:26because he had invented something new with me,
11:31and we were probably talking about all of that.
11:49I remember that game, when the match was over,
11:52we were on the plane and I said to him,
11:57have you seen the best game of Leo Messi?
12:01And he said, no, the best game will be the next one.
12:04But that day, you could see the faces of the people at the Bernabéu
12:10and everyone was saying, for God's sake, why Messi at Barça?
12:23Yes, of course, at that moment I thought and imagined that goal,
12:28and well, I understood it and thanks to God it came out.
12:32It was a very important goal in every way,
12:37for me individually, for the team,
12:40for how we got to the final.
12:42The truth is that it was one of my most beautiful goals for me.
12:48The truth is that at that moment it seemed difficult
12:51to win head-to-head with Ferdinand in front,
12:55but well, he fell right where I was, where there was no mark,
12:59and it was right in the middle for it to happen.
13:11We always tried to defend ourselves well.
13:14We had a very good team that defended itself very well.
13:17We had Ferdinand, we had Vida, we had Patrisson,
13:20we had players who were already experienced in football
13:22and we knew we would be playing with a great quality team.
13:25At the same time, we had to defend ourselves,
13:27but we had players to attack, like Cristiano Ronaldo,
13:30like 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 very confident.
13:48That was the moment of the game where we were on top of Barcelona,
13:52where Tevez had missed a ball, where he had crossed,
13:55he had kicked it, the goalkeeper had caught it,
13:57we were on top of Barcelona.
13:59At the moment of a careless mistake,
14:01we ended up scoring in this cross by Daniel Alves.
14:04The 2009 Champions League final started really in the Clásico previously,
14:10because just before the Clásico,
14:13just before the Clásico, Pep Guardiola asked,
14:17very late in the day, Leo Messi to come to the training ground,
14:22Messi doesn't live far away from it,
14:25and showed him some clips, some videos,
14:27and said, you know that space here,
14:29in between all the midfielders and the centre-backs,
14:31I want you to play there.
14:32That was the beginning of the false nine role that he played for Barcelona.
14:37Barcelona killed Real Madrid,
14:39but of course it seems to me that Manchester United
14:42did not study that game properly,
14:44because what happened in the Champions League final
14:47was that Messi started on the right-hand side,
14:50Eto'o was in the centre of the attack,
14:52and after 10 minutes, having Cristiano Ronaldo
14:56had a chance for Manchester United,
14:58that could have put them ahead, it was still 0-0,
15:01and Pep Guardiola asked Eto'o and Messi to change places.
15:05So Eto'o went on the right-hand side,
15:07Messi came inside, and then he became not just a false nine,
15:11but linked as well with the midfield.
15:13They created superiority in the midfield,
15:15Manchester United did not know how to deal with that,
15:18and basically that was the beginning of the victory of Barcelona.
15:23What does it mean to you to be the winner of such a beautiful league?
15:37It's something very nice,
15:40to be the winner of such a beautiful and important league,
15:44that so many players from so many levels have played for this league,
15:50and to be the top scorer is a very good statistic.
15:57I remember when I broke the record,
16:00I was talking to Leo, do you remember?
16:02Zara was a legend, he had an absolute record,
16:06and he told me, I don't play for records,
16:09I play to have a good time.
16:11This is a player that my generation have not seen before,
16:15I don't think we've ever seen before,
16:18and it's down to the consistency of his efforts,
16:21his performances in big games as well.
16:24The fact that he's carried a team like Barcelona to win everything,
16:28and Barcelona have won with Pep Guardiola,
16:31with Tito Villanova, with Tata Martino, with Luis Enrique,
16:35and in the middle of all that,
16:37there was one thing coinciding, and that was Messi.
16:40So we're talking about the team that perhaps is one of the greatest in history,
16:44certainly one that has changed history,
16:46but again, it coincides that has Messi in it.
16:59The truth is that it was a round day, because of how everything went.
17:03To score the 500th goal, the 3-2 in the last minute,
17:06in a game where if we didn't win,
17:10we practically said goodbye to LaLiga.
17:14It was a goal that gave us hope to continue dreaming about LaLiga.
17:19It was a game that we deserved to win because of how it went,
17:23and winning it in the last minute was very special for all Barcelonistas.
17:29For me, because he's the best player in the world,
17:33he managed to be at the same level for 10 years,
17:38and his level is different from the rest.
17:41To be able to do that in 10 years is something very rare,
17:46or almost nothing.
17:48Then you add the quality that he has,
17:52and you become the best in history.
17:57I think I win everything in a game, or in a player.
18:09I think he's a surreal player, a great player.
18:14He's a great player, and I think he's a great player.
18:19He's a great player, and I think he's a great player.
18:24I think he's a surreal player, a player from another planet.
18:38One of the greatest in the last years,
18:42and he's so influential for Barcelona.
18:46Impossible can do simple things.
18:49In training, he does things that no one else does,
18:54but in a way that he doesn't even try to do.
18:58I think that's what makes him different.
19:07The least I can say about him is that he's a great guy.
19:12The least I can say about him is that he's a great guy.
19:17He's an inexplicable player.
19:25Leo Messi is a source of happiness.
19:28Happiness to the highest degree.
19:30Here they say that Leo Messi is better than making love to your partner.
19:34Because the happiness that Leo Messi gives you is longer.
19:38And that's what people feel here in Barcelona.
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?
20:08Why did we even ask?