Messi (41 page)

‘I was killing myself laughing: “Come on, Silvi, tell him that’s enough, that’ll do, tell him to go.” And I said to him: “I’m not going to tell him anything, leave him.” And I thought to myself, “I wonder how this is going to end up?” and there’s Leo, with his strong Argentinian accent saying, “Go, go.” How was the Chinese guy going to understand him?’

That summer, Leo also found himself a mother figure. ‘When we went to China I was pregnant and my maternal instincts were well and truly developed,’ recalls Cristina Cubero. ‘On those trips, Leo used to spend a lot of time with me, and later Rijkaard would ask me, “what does he talk to you about?” About his home, Rosario, the River Turbio, his friends … we talked about normal things, he was still a boy. And Rijkaard used to say to me: “He doesn’t talk to us.” He had problems expressing himself. One day I asked him, “why don’t you talk more?” And he said to me, “because I prefer to listen; if I have nothing to say why talk?” On that trip I discovered something: when he trusts you, he looks you in the eye.’

The telltale sign that you have been accepted into his private world.

‘I’d be happy to play for even a second,’ said ‘the Flea’ the evening before his debut for the full national side. José Pekerman wanted to reward Leo for his spectacular performance with the Under 20s two months earlier by calling him up for a friendly Argentina were playing against Hungary at the Ferenc Puskás Stadium in Budapest.

With 11 minutes played of the second half, the Argentinian manager asked physical coach Eduardo Urtasún to explain to Leo what was tactically required of him. Urtasún asked him to warm up, whispered a couple of things in his ear and gave him a kiss. In the sixty-fourth minute, Pekerman called him over. Gabriel Milito went over to Leo to encourage him. He wore the number 18 on his back,
coincidentally his age. Lisandro López would be the man replaced, the first Argentinian substitution of the game.

Leo’s first possession, following a pass from Scaloni, saw him increase the speed of the game. The second time he got the ball he went on a run along the centre of the pitch. He had been on the pitch for 92 seconds. The Hungarian defender Vilmos Vanczák went in with a hefty tackle, at the same time grabbing Leo’s shirt, and ‘the Flea’ reacted by swinging his arm in the air in an effort to shake off his opponent’s hand. But his flailing arm struck Vanczák’s throat and he fell to the ground, his hands covering his face.

‘Leo Messi will take a long time to forget the face of Markus Merk, the German referee in that Hungary−Argentina game which was his debut with the full international side,’ wrote Cristina Cubero in
El Mundo Deportivo
, witnessing the events of that day, 17 August 2005. Juan Pablo Sorín, Lionel Scaloni, Gabriel Heinze and Robero Ayala all approached the referee and tried to persuade him that Leo’s action was purely defensive and didn’t merit a card. Merk disagreed and, with an exaggerated flourish, held aloft the red. Vanczák received a yellow card.

Leo could not believe it and walked off, glancing briefly up at the stands, nervously fiddling with the waistband on his shorts and finally leaving the field with his head bowed. Hugo Tocalli, assistant to Pekerman, reminded him that there would be other games, other days to wear the shirt. ‘Messi was crushed at that moment,’ writes Cubero. ‘He couldn’t even remember that Scaloni had come up to embrace him, or that Hernán Crespo had approached him. He didn’t hear the stadium beginning to chant his name. He went off in tears, crying like a child, tears of frustration, rage and bitterness. The team’s masseur stayed with him in the dressing room.’

‘Do you know who was in the crowd?’ Cristina Cubero remembers. ‘José Mourinho, who had come to see one of his players. After the sending-off, I saw Mourinho in the stand and asked him, “José, what are you doing here? What do you think of what’s just happened?” And he answered: “crazy, the referees are mad, how could they have done that to the boy, when he’s such a nice lad? Tell him not to worry, tell him from me to cheer up, stay calm.”’

When the players arrived back in the dressing room after a 1–2 victory, they saw Messi in a corner, still crying. Alone. His head
bowed. ‘They all went over to him to cheer him up,’ continues Cubero. ‘They all assured him that he was now one of them. He had made his debut in the sky-blue and white of his country, and they had smashed his dream into pieces. But he had to understand that these things happen.’

He walked through the press area accompanied by Pablo Zabaleta, who that day also made his debut with the national side, and Hugo Tocalli. The coaching staff told him not to say anything. He looked at the gathered journalists and gave them a rueful glance.

There was little to say. ‘Would Merk have had the same courage to send off a revered player like Riquelme for the same reason?’ both the Argentinian and Catalan press asked. ‘Merk wanted to be famous,’ it was said. Hernán Crespo had some harsh words for the referee: ‘He took no account of the systematic fouling of the Hungarian, but confined himself to sending Messi off … I don’t know if it was because their coach was a fellow countryman [Lothar Matthäus] or whatever the reason was. An eighteen-year-old kid, fulfilling a dream and making his debut for his country cannot be punished like this. The referee should have been more understanding.’

Markus Merk, now retired and named by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS) as the best referee of the first ten years of the twenty-first century, did not want to talk about it. ‘I never make comments after games,’ he said. He was questioned further in the press area, but his look said it all.

Curiously, Merk doesn’t even mention the incident in his autobiography. The co-author of the book, Oliver Trust, says, ‘I remember that he told me from a very young age that he was very clear – he wanted to be strict with fouls, whenever they occurred. No matter who and how famous the player was. He wanted his work as a referee to have a “structure”, to be consistent, it was one of the most important things for him. He had to show Messi the red card even though he was sorry for the youngster. He felt and still feels a deep respect for Messi’s skill.’

On the way back to the hotel a singing Scaloni attempted to cheer the group up, but Leo sat alone, staring out of the window. Leo Franco ruffled his hair, trying to drag him out of the dark tunnel that he was in. Without success.

‘That night I spent six hours with Leo, and he was crying, crying, crying,’ remembered Cubero. ‘To calm him down I said: it’s the first game, you’ll have thousands more.’

On his arrival at Barcelona airport he opened up and spoke into the microphones of RAC1: ‘I dodged past the Hungarian, who was trying to grab me by the shirt. I got myself free the best way that I could and the referee interpreted it as an elbow. It left me really angry. I had minutes to play, but whatever happened, it was not how I had dreamed it.’ He left the airport with his brother Rodrigo and Pablo Zabaleta.

Zabaleta hardly heard a single word from Leo on the way back.

With barely time to dry his tears, the summer would bring another unpleasant surprise. Messi would once again fall victim to bureaucracy. Following on from the delay of his transfer to Barcelona some years before, this time it was a question of passports. He was a spectator for the traditional curtain raiser to the season, the away leg of the Spanish Supercopa final, this time against Betis at the Benito Villamarín Stadium. And in the return leg he was not even called up into the squad. What was going on? The Catalan newspaper
Sport
exposed the ‘Messi case’. Leo was classified as a foreign player and in Ronaldinho, Rafa Márquez and Samuel Eto’o Barcelona already had three, the maximum permitted. How then was it possible that he had played seven games the previous year?

Barcelona argued that Messi was an ‘assimilated’ player, a figure created by the Spanish Football Federation: a footballer born outside the European Union with five seasons in the lower ranks of the club. The federation weren’t so sure; the regulation was ambiguous. Leo only had an Argentinian passport and after his goal against Albacete did not play again, because Barcelona suspected clubs might consider him an inellegible player and would contest the validity of matches. Barcelona preferred to take him away from the field until this legal grey area had been sorted out definitively.

Curiously, UEFA had no problem with him playing. He had already played in a Champions League match the previous season, but when Barcelona checked that he could still be fielded in Europe, UEFA gave the go-ahead three days later – common sense told them that if he had played once he could do so again.

Leo meanwhile continued to train as if he was going to play in the next game, with a resolve that surprised those who were only just getting to know him. But the uncertainty demanded that the people in the club responsible for such issues sorted out this new problem as quickly as possible. In case there was no quick resolution, loaning the player out was mooted as a possibility.

The season began and behind the scenes discussions were held to discuss Leo’s future. If he could not be called upon because of bureaucratic hold-ups, then should he be allowed to grow and develop with another team? This, at least, was the suggestion of those close to Leo and, surprisingly, Barcelona’s technical staff concurred. The coaches were actively seeking a solution that would avoid conflict: the young Argentinian was strong, his game deserved more playing time, but Ronaldinho
had
the ball. ‘Why don’t we loan him out for a year?’ it was suggested in Rijkaard’s office. Jorge Messi received calls from Spanish clubs (Lleida, Zaragoza …) and from all over Europe. The most attractive came from Italy (Inter Milan were the most insistent), but also from other leagues (Glasgow Rangers, for example, but curiously not a single offer from an English club).

This is how ex-president of PSV Rob Westerhof explained it: ‘It was 2005. I had a good relationship with the president, Laporta, and he said to me, halfway through a G14 meeting, that he had a young lad who was very good and he wanted to loan him out because he couldn’t play in Spain. We had a great reputation, Guus Hiddink was our coach, we had just won the league and were into the semi-finals of the Champions League.’ Espanyol also tried, trying to take advantage of the closeness of Leo with Pablo Zabaleta, their right-back. ‘Our coach, Miguel Ángel Lotina, kept going on about how I should convince him,’ the defender remembers. Clubs got as far as negotiating the loan. ‘We’re going to Espanyol’ was heard in the Leo home.

But something changed the perception that the club and world football had of ‘the Flea’ that would ultimately change FC Barcelona’s plans.

The Joan Gamper trophy at the Camp Nou.

*

On that 24 August the traditional Joan Gamper pre-season summer trophy, the team presentation to the fans, was being played at the Camp Nou against the Juventus of Fabio Capello, with del Piero and Ibrahimović up front. It was the first view of a side almost complete with the addition of just two new signings, Mark Van Bommel (from PSV) and Santi Ezquerro (from Athletic de Bilbao). Rijkaard decided to give Leo a place in his starting line-up, a sign of affection and a demonstration of support after a hectic summer. Larsson and Ronaldinho were the other two forwards. Thuram was missing from the Juve defence, but there was still plenty of quality there in the shape of Zebina, Kovač, Cannavaro and Chielini. And from the first minute…

Leo asked for the ball.

Appeared on both flanks and through the middle.

Started runs from midfield.

Dribbled in the box.

He nutmegged Fabio Cannavaro.

Took possession from Patrick Vieira who, on losing the ball, turned around and aimed a kick at his ankle. Yellow card, one of three earned by the Italian side trying to stop Leo.

Played fearlessly despite Juventus’s aggression.

Provided the assist for the first goal.

Dribbled. Shot at goal.

Passed the ball with his chest.

You can see it all here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIJBMMADPTs

‘I kept asking Zebina, “This kid, who is he?” And we started going in hard to him.’ (Patrick Vieira)

The Juve manager Fabio Capello, standing on the touchline next to Rijkaard, had a word with the Dutchman during the game. ‘You can’t play that guy. Let me have him. For a year, on loan. In any other side he would be an automatic starter with the first team.’ The answer was a polite no: ‘I think we will sort out the passport problems in three or four months, Fabio.’

‘He spoke with Frank, because Frank and Capello got on very well together,’ remembers Henk ten Cate. ‘Not just to loan him. To buy him, perhaps.’

The Italian coach confesses now: ‘When I saw him he dazzled me. As he was legally prevented from playing for Barcelona, I seized the opportunity to ask my friend Frank if we could have him, even on loan. But he told me, no, no way, and that Messi would end up playing that same year for Barcelona. Messi is a genius, someone who can win any game. For me he is among the greats in the history of football alongside Pelé, Cruyff, Di Stéfano or Maradona, even though he has not yet won a World Cup.’

Rijkaard thought he deserved an ovation from the 91,000 spectators present so he substituted Leo in the eighty-ninth minute. On came Giuly who, from that day onwards, recognised that his days as an automatic starter were over.

After a 2
–
2 draw, Juventus took the cup on penalties.

Leo was named man of the match.

Fabio Capello spoke about Messi at the press conference. ‘I’ve never seen a player with so much quality at that age, and with such personality, wearing such an important shirt. Messi is a great champion and he can do what he likes with the ball. I am pleased that a boy so young does something so beautiful for football. Because these aren’t things you see every day. It’s an advertisement for the game.’

The Italian coach confesses now: ‘When I saw him he dazzled me. As he was legally prevented from playing for Barcelona, I seized the opportunity to ask my friend Frank if we could have him, even on loan. But he told me, no, no way, and that the bureaucratic problems would eventually be sorted out and that Messi would end up playing that same year for Barcelona. Messi is a genius, someone who can win any game. For me he is among the greats in the history of football alongside Pelé, Cruyff, Di Stéfano or Maradona, even though he has not yet won a World Cup.’