Lionel Messi’s two goals against Rayo Vallecano on Saturday saw the mercurial forward become the third highest scorer in La Liga history as he surpassed the legendary Alfredo di Stefano and draw level with former Real Madrid great Raul Gonzalez.
His staggering tally of 228 goals has come in just 263 league games; with only Hugo Sanchez (234) and Telmo Zarra (251) now standing between him and yet another record.
The 26-year-old is on track to become one of the most decorated footballers in the history of the game, so Sport360° decided that it would be the perfect time to speak to Guillem Balague, the acclaimed Spanish sports journalist whose most recent work was on the Argentine genius.
The book, named simply ‘Messi’, is an exhaustive look at the Barcelona forward’s journey from the streets of Rosario to becoming a four-time Ballon d’Or winner and one of the greatest players in football history. Speaking after the unveiling of Messi as a new Global Ambassador for Gillette, Balague discussed all things ‘Leo’…
What was the inspiration and motivation behind writing this book?
Two years ago I wrote a biography of Pep Guardiola at the time when he was wasn’t talking, he was in New York but he helped me. After that the publishers came back and they said, ‘okay, this has gone much better than we thought, what would you like to do next?’ For me, it had to be Leo Messi.
What do you know about Leo Messi?
I don’t think people know that much about him. They know he left Argentina very young, that he had injections to grow, that he wins a lot and he hates losing. I wrote 600 pages because there’s so much more to him than that. I only did it with the family’s consent as they were a bit disappointed by some of the books that had been published. They helped me and the book helped them to come out with a real account of his story.
How long did it take you?
I started in March 2013, and I had to submit the manuscript in June but I managed to get it extended until October. Not too long but I haven’t done anything else for the last year. It was a worthwhile effort as there is still a lot of mystery and things that people don’t know. People are repeating a lot of stories that aren’t true and because they are being repeated others think they must be true, and they’re not.
What I found fascinating is exploring what exactly is Messi about? How does someone go from being a young kid to being the best player in the world? How do you get there, what kind of genes and mentality takes you there?
My most interesting finding, I feel, is that the only gene that takes you to being the best player in the world is not a gene that you get born with, you start playing and then you’re the best in the world, it’s not that kind of talent. It’s the desire, focus and determination to be better every day. Most of us will perform to our best, and just stay there and we’re happy with what we’ve got. He just wants more.
Do you have any plans to release an Arabic version of the book?
It was published in English because Orion are the publishers, which I find very interesting because the authorised book of Pep Guardiola and the authorised book of Lionel Messi have come out in English first. In England at the moment they’re very open to football cultures and they love Spanish football and there is that demand for Spanish football stories. In England, Barcelona is their club and Messi is their player. But the book will come out in March in Spanish and Catalan and it will be in Arabic later in the year.
Is this the whole story, or is there more to come?
In England you do a first edition, a hardback and then a second paperback edition. The paperback will come out in September with the World Cup included. For me, the World Cup is a turning point in the story of Leo Messi. Since he was 15/16 he’s always been thinking of this World Cup as he’s going to turn 27 and he’s been preparing himself mentally all these years for this tournament.
He’s going to be at the peak of his body, career and mind. So getting injured in November was much harder than normal for him. After the World Cup you’ve got the situation of if he wins it, what will be the next challenge – because he lives on challenges? If you imagine for a second he wins it, that’s it, there will be nobody in the world who won’t say he’s the best. One debate will be finished. But then once you’ve convinced the whole world you’re the best, what do you do?
I feel the Lionel we’re seeing now – playing a little bit deeper, plenty of passing – is perhaps the Lionel we’ll see in the future. Especially if he wins the World Cup, because if he doesn’t, he’ll still want to show everyone he is the best in the world and he will still try to be the man who decides games.
How can you define the success of Messi?
It’s success against the odds, that’s the main thing. He had everything against him. You have to go back – almost in a novelistic way – to take him to that day in Rosario when Jorge Messi sat the whole family around the table, and he’s 12. Imagine when you were 12. And the question is: ‘do you want to leave Argentina to go to another country?’ And not just another country, to cross the ocean. At that time it wasn’t like you could get a plane every week.
You are leaving Argentina. There is no coming back. I would have said no I want stay, he said ‘yeah, I want to go.’ And then six months later they are in Barcelona and things are really bad because some of the family didn’t adapt. One of the brothers had a girlfriend back in Argentina. Then Jorge sat them all round the table again and said, ‘do you want to stay in Barcelona?’ and if we stay ‘Mama, two brothers and a sister are going back. The Messi family originate from Italy, from Ancona, where the ‘Mama’ is the centre of the universe.
Messi, who was 13 now, had to say ‘I’m staying’, and mum is going… that’s it and Messi would see her twice a year. There wasn’t Skype or chatting on the internet. That was what he was asked to do at 12 and 13, just a child. That mentality for me is completely alien to anyone I know but is what is needed to get to the top.
Who and what were big influences on Messi during his early years as a first-team player?
For the book I’ve made a clear difference between the personal and the professional life. You have to explain the relationship with his dad, what it meant when his mum went away, what it means for him to succeed, his relationship with Cristiano Ronaldo. There’s a story in the book about when Leo was struggling to make the change from being a very good player in the academy to becoming a first-team player.
He was 18, and Ronaldinho was there. So Ronaldinho was doing what he does, which is playing on the pitch and enjoying himself off it. Messi was there seeing what it meant to be the best player because at the time Ronaldinho was the best in the world. But it was a confusing time for him.
There was one moment when Ronaldinho would come out of the training ground and the fans were waiting for him for sign things and he would just drive away as fast as he could. Behind would be Leo and his dad, and he thought he would do the same, but then after passing the fans his dad turned to him and said, ‘you see that roundabout, turn around and go back, you’re going to go back and sign autographs for 45 minutes.’ So it was a bit of a lesson: these are the people you should be thinking of.
What does Leo think about Cristiano Ronaldo? What is their relationship like?
There has been a legend created where they hate each other. It is cold sometimes when they meet but at the same time, there was one instance at the UEFA Player of the Year award and Cristiano and Leo were just chatting away as mates. When they saw each other at the last Ballon d’Or, they hugged and everything.
They recognise they are at the top, and are fighting for the same space but they are men of the same instinct. There are a lot of parallels between their childhoods.
Guillem Balague is an acclaimed Spanish sports journalist and presenter who works primarily for AS and Sky Sports in England. He is the author of, ‘A Season on the Brink: Rafael Benitez, Liverpool and the Path to European Glory’, concerning the Reds’ 2005 Champions League-winning campaign and ‘Pep Guardiola: Another Way of Winning’, detailing the Guardiola revolution at the Nou Camp.
