On June 29, 2004, exactly 20 years ago, between 200 and 500 peopleaccording to journalistic estimates, sat on the steps of the stadium Argentinos Juniors to witness history. Popular tickets cost just five pesos; seats in the stands, 10.. They are curious data collected by the book Messi, the complete genius by Ariel Senosiain. “Clearly, all of us who attended that night knew that a special event was going to take place,” added Diego Santonovich, a journalist present at that venue where magic tempered the icy wind.
On that special day, a Lionel Messi 17-year-old signed with his boots his eternal commitment to Argentine national team. In a friendly-excuse against the Under 22 team of Paraguaythe Albiceleste won 8 to 0 and La Pulga was “armored” against the attacks of Spain to keep its talent.
The Rosario He took the field with number 17, scored 7-0 and assisted Pablo Vitti and Federico Almerares in two other victories. Before and during that initiatory meeting, the starting point of an idyll that found its peak in the Copa América (and that aims to elevate the summit in Qatar 2022), the peculiarities intensified, small stories that build what is already a legend, that Today he seeks to repeat the glory in the Copa América in the United States.
Much was said about the video of the budding crack that he received Claudio Vivasfield assistant of Marcelo Bielsawho, upon seeing the tape, incredulously asked his collaborator: “Put it on normal speed.” Also from the signals he obtained Hugo Tocalli at the Under 17 World Cup in Finland, where even the cook from Spain snapped at him: “Hey, Tocalli, if you had that kid from Barcelona you would be champion.” Or the dialogue between the former goalkeeper himself and Julio Grondona to plan the friendlies against Paraguay and Uruguay in order to scare away the ghosts that were stirring up from Europe. But the pearl was the method, artisanal, sublime, that he used Omar SoutoManager of National Teams, to find the prodigy and communicate the good news of the summons.
“I left the Ezeiza grounds for a call centre in Monte Grande. I asked for a Rosario telephone directory, all we knew was that he was from Rosario. I tore out the page where the Messi numbers were, made a random call to my house to justify that I had entered and went back to the grounds to track him down. The first person I found nearby was the grandmother. Lionel’s grandmother gave me the contact information for his uncle. The uncle, the father’s uncle. I called the father, introduced myself and told him that we wanted to have his son, with the detail that I got the name wrong: I had always heard that Leo is the nickname of the Leonardos.“Souto narrated in Senosiain’s unmissable work.
Already upon landing at the Ezeiza complex, the young talent came across the values and rules that Pekerman and his team transmitted. “How can I not remember that first day? He arrived accompanied by his father and his representative. The physical trainer, who was (Gerardo) Salorio, came out and told him: ‘If you don’t cut your hair, you can’t play.’ I said he didn’t pay attention to him, ha. He really wanted to play for Argentina… Speaking to Spain’s leaders at World Cups, they would come up to us and say: ‘We tempted him in every possible way, and he never wanted to accept playing for us,’ Souto told Infobae.
His teammates knew him more by name or reference than by images. In 2004, social networks had not yet exploded. Even Bielsa had to resort to a VHS to learn more about his supersonic speed. It was not necessary to socialize too much for the young promises that surrounded him to realize the plausibility of the diamond in the rough that they talked so much about. “When we saw him play we all looked at each other. He grabbed the ball and accelerated from 0 to 100 as if it were nothing.“, was surprised Pablo Barrientosthen a figure of San Lorenzo, who in the aforementioned shielding match scored two goals and ended up leaving his place to open the door wide for the Albiceleste to the hidden gem in Barcelona.
“I never say it, but I have it in my memory. These are things I keep to myself, I don’t talk about them much. If someone else says it, I act dumb, I say, ‘maybe yes, it was like that’, ha”Pitu had fun, participating in the 2005 South American Under 20 Championship with Pulga.
Ezequiel Lavezzi, Ezequiel Garay, Federico Almerares (two), Pablo Vitti and Messi They closed the bulky score. “The match was an excuse, Argentina scored, they had no opposition, and every ball Messi touched caused all eyes to look at him. Every movement of his was watched carefully and at that moment he began to show things that would later come with both the youth and senior national teams,” described Santonovich, who covered the match for Ole and today he works as Social Media Coordinator in the AFA Professional Football League.
“After the game, the few journalists who had gone to the field went to seek the word of Leo, who very timidly agreed to speak to the press, and very cordially dedicated minutes not only to an improvised press conference in the central hall of the Argentinos court, but also He spoke to anyone who specifically needed it, always accompanied by his father Jorge. I remember that he handled the media contact situation and even passed his phone number as a bridge to mediate between the press and Leo,” he described a scene that is unlikely today, but even logical in times of discovery.
“It was a particular day, with some emotion, knowing that something was brewing, but what came next ended up marking that what we expected was much more. We ended up witnessing the debut of the best player of all time with the Argentina shirt and that remains forever.“, Santonovich emphasized.
Some don’t just treasure the memory. Pablo Alvaradoformer Ciclón defender, can also boast of having kept something that belonged to the star: “We had played the first match with Paraguay, when Messi debuted in the National Team, and then we traveled to Uruguay. There was some money for travel expenses, and the person who gave it to me said, ‘I don’t have two 50 dollar bills, I’ll give you 100 and 50 are for Leo.’ I approached him and said, ‘I don’t have 50 to give you, do you have any?’ ‘No, no, don’t worry, give it to me later,’ he replied. Time passed and I didn’t see him again. It’s that simple. That’s my anecdote with Messi.because afterwards I was not lucky enough to play with him again, at least I have that anecdote.” A small figure compared to the price of the story.
