Lionel Messi’s most intimate (and moving) revelation with Diego Maradona

Lionel Messi dedicated some heartfelt words to Diego Maradona. He did so in the middle of a dialogue he had with Zinedine Zidane in September in the United States as part of an advertisement for the sports brand Adidas.

“For us Argentinians, 10 is a very special number because you see 10 and Maradona comes to mind. We wanted to be like him, even if later no one became like him, that was our desire. Maradona was number 10 and the player we admired “, said the man from Rosario in dialogue with the Frenchman.

“I saw little of Diego, when he went to Newell’s on his last stage, I was six or seven years old and I don’t remember, just like the 1994 World Cup. I was a boy, I don’t “I don’t remember much. Then I watched videos,” added the Albiceleste captain.

“He is our reference, our idol. For us, Diego is something very strong which will continue to be there for many more years, I have no doubt. . “My children know Diego without ever having seen him, thanks to the videos, to what we say,” he later said.

Another topic that caught attention was his appreciation for Juan Román Riquelme and Pablo Aimar – his childhood idol – and he took the moment to reflect on that position on the pitch.

“A lot has been lost now. The position I had before reflected that it was the hook, now with the 4-3-3 or the 4-2-2, it’s true that there is little left. Our 10, which characterized the Argentinian 10, Riquelme, Aimar, there are few or none . The 10 does not fit into these systems or it is difficult to get into. This is why the training of these players was lost,” he concluded on this subject.

Of course, that’s not all, because during the conversation he also highlighted his children’s relationship with football. “My children love football, all three of them are passionate about it . They are small, generally when you are small you like to be on top, to score goals. Or you have to be born otherwise with the madness of being a goalkeeper, that you like to go for the goal, but in general what is good is to score goals, to be up there. But hey, they’re small. But they spend the whole day with the ball,” he said.

During the conversation, they also took the time to express the admiration they have for each other. Zidane said of the Argentine that “Leo is magical. That’s what I like, we’re not together every day but today is an important day to tell him the admiration I have for him. It’s pure magic, I knew what to do and seeing someone like that…I almost knew what I was going to do when I looked at him. . When I see him do that, I say, that’s it. “That’s what people want to see in football, a player like few others.”

For his part, Messi stressed about the Frenchman that “for me, Zidane is one of the greatest in history. I always admired him and I also suffered from him when he was in Madrid because I was from Barcelona . I remember the Galacticos days, the European Cup, when they had a great team, but it was always a different player, he had the art, the magic, everything. It’s not because it’s here but for me it’s one of the greatest in history . I have many memories of him.

Another interesting point in the conversation was when the Frenchman asked him which match he would play again and the current Inter Miami player chose the 2014 World Cup final in Brazil.

“Things happen because they have to happen, I don’t regret anything, the whole journey and the path I had to travel . I was fortunate to have had many joys and sadnesses along the way for not achieving my goal, but the reason it happened that way is because it was meant to be that way. But still, the thorn in the 2014 final, in the World Cup… Even if I was able to remove it a little later with this World Cup (Qatar 2022), it will remain there. To say one “, he explained.