‘My dream is to play for Argentina’ – Lionel Messi’s first-ever interview has been unearthed and it’s amazing | OneFootball

Lionel Messi’s first-ever interview as a Newell’s Old Boys youth player has been unearthed and made its way onto Reddit.

The Argentinian legend gave the quick interview when he was just 13 years old, and gave answers about his fledgling football career – prior to his life-changing move to Barcelona – and his favourite film, music, food and more. It’s something straight out of a matchday programme, or Match Magazine.

Read anything about Messi’s upbringing in Rosario, Argentina – and you’ll no doubt be painted a picture of a quiet kid who just loved football.

“It was a time to decide, ‘do we stay in Barcelona or do we go back to Rosario?’,” Messi’s biographer Guillem Balague recalled in the BBC‘s new documentary. “They sat around the table and asked, ‘Leo, what do you want to do?’ Leo said, ‘I want to succeed. I want to be at Barcelona, I want to be a professional player’.”

“Often, he would go into his room and put his head under his pillow and cry. He did that so his dad didn’t hear him. Aged 14 to 15, he realised that, because of his decision, he couldn’t get it wrong.”

It’s safe to say that Messi made it at Barcelona. But those that knew Messi best question the idea that he was a shy kid.

“He was humble,” Sergio Maradona, one of Messi’s young team-mates at Newell’s, told Bleacher Report.

“The idea that he was shy, timid—this is a lie. When he is with his mates, he’s great fun. He’s guarded with the press or people who don’t know him. With his family or his friends, he’s very amusing. I remember him as a funny guy, entertaining, extroverted but also a very respectful person, modest, unassuming. He never had problems with anyone.”

Here’s that interview in full.

We give thanks to Reddit user lebronjamesgoat1 for translating the whole thing:

Lionel Messi is a player in the 10th division and the attacking playmaker for the team. He’s not only one of the up and coming players in Newell’s academy but has a huge future ahead of him, because, despite his height, he manages to go past one, two, dribble, score goals, but above all he enjoys himself with the ball and as of today he’s being revealed to the world.

Leo Messi’s answers A hero: Two, my dad Jorge and my god-father Claudio.

A coach: Everyone I’ve had, because I’ve learnt something from all of them ((Gabriel, Morales, Domínguez, Vecchio and Coria).

A fitness coach: Pablo Sánchez.

A team: Newell’s

A hobby: Listening to music.

A type of music: Cuarteto and Cumbia.

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A TV programme: Primicias

A book: The Bible.

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Other sport: Handball.

A model: Nicole Neumann.

A food: Chicken and sauce.

A subject: Spanish

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A job: PE teacher

An objective: Finish secondary school.

A goal: Play in the first division.

A joy: When we were champions.

A sadness: My grandmother’s death.

A hope: To play in the first division with Newell’s

A memory: When my grandmother took me to play football for the first time.

A dream: To play for Argentina.

A tale to tell: When we travelled to Peru and became champions.

Humility: What a human being must never lose.

Argentinean youth teams: I’d love to play for them.

Expectations for this year: To be champions again.

Family: My dad Jorge, my mum Celia and my brothers and sisters Rodrigo, Natalia and Marisol.

Friends: I’m lucky I’ve got lots of good friends – if I tried to name them I’d forget someone.

What does Newell’s mean in your life? Everything, absolutely everything.