LIONEL MESSI recalled a situation that perhaps would have changed his beginnings in the Argentine National Teamwith whose shirt he now faces his last Copa América in the United States.
The origin of the story has a turning point in the arrival of Pep Guardiola as coach of Barcelona, in mid-2008. With the Beijing Olympic Games in sight for Messi, The Catalan team had suffered two years of drought and had a challenge overlapping with La Pulga’s desire to seek a medal for his country: the Champions League playoffs.
“When Guardiola arrived we were in preseason. We had started training and we had Pre-Champions. We had to qualify for the Champions League no matter what, because we had come from two difficult years; we were not the Barcelona that we later became with him,” recalled Messi, who was on the verge of missing those Games in China because His presence in the head-to-head series against Wisla Krakovia was key.
And followed: “I was half renegade on training days, with long faces, because I wanted to go to the Olympic Games. He immediately noticed my face and that’s why we had a talk.”
How was it resolved? Messi himself remembered it, in dialogue with Clank: “Guardiola is a very intelligent person: he realizes everything and doesn’t miss anything. We had just met but I am very transparent; he knew me quickly. He grabbed me and said: ‘Rest assured, we are going to enter the Champions League.’ “Go ahead, I’m going to let you go win the Olympic Games. Enjoy and come back, we’re going to have a long year.”
Finally, Barcelona, without Messi, won the first leg at home 4-0 and lost the second leg 1-0. but they qualified for the group stage and, months later, they consecrated themselves after winning 2-0 in the final to Manchester United at the Olympic Stadium in Rome.
