Lionel Messi is arguably the world’s best player.
But he passed rivers and mountains to becoming one.
In a recent interview, Barcelona legend Lionel Messi revealed that his life at the club did not start as well as many fans may think it would have, given how he was already regarded as supremely talented while he used to play for his former team Newell’s Old Boys.
It is already well-known that Messi left Argentine side Newell’s Old Boys in 2001, relocating to Europe – a new continent – at the tender age of 13.
“I was in Barcelona for about 15 days and then I returned to Argentina. After a few months, they called me and I said yes, that I was willing to come. Let me come here and start my dream in Barcelona. It was a happiness for me and my family,” the 32-year-old said, while speaking to OTRO.
“I was looking forward to knowing if I was going to come here. The truth is that at that time I did not understand the great change I was going to be making. I was a boy. All I wanted was to come to Barcelona and play. I was not aware of the difficulty of changing and how hard it was going to be for me and my family.”
“At the start, the truth is that it was tough, it was hard. The most beautiful thing is to play and not being able to play was really difficult. In the middle, I went through injuries too. When I was able to play here after two, three or four months, I got injured in my first game and I was out for another month and a half.”
“They were hard times, but it never crossed my mind to go home. My brothers had gone to Argentina, my sister’s adaptation was the toughest of all, she was the smallest and it was hard for them, with school and everything. They decided that my mother would go to Argentina with her,” Messi explained, before concluding:
“I was alone, and they asked me what I wanted to do, if we stayed or left, that the decision was mine and that they would support me. I was always clear that I wanted to stay.”
Despite all the hardship, Messi stayed on – as you all know, the rest is history.
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