Lionel Messi Looks Back At Beginnings In Barcelona: ‘It Was Tough, It Was Hard’

Lionel Messi made a trip down memory lane and narrated his humble beginnings as a teenage boy when he transferred to Europe to play for Barcelona. The Argentine football great described the onset as challenging for a 13-year-old boy who chose to live in another continent to chase his dream.

“At the start, the truth is that it was tough, it was hard,” Messi said in an interview with OTRO as published by Fox Sports Asia. He then cited how he had to deal with not being able to play and the injuries that derailed his progress as a young athlete.

“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,” Messi added.

At a very young age, Lionel Messi was already a highly-touted talent when he started his youth career with his home country’s club Newell’s Old Boys in 1994. He moved to Barcelona in 2001 – a decision he said to be the beginning of the fulfillment of his dream.

“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,” said Argentina’s all-time leader in goals scored.

After getting slapped with an early reality check, Lionel Messi showed resiliency and stood his ground. He cited the sacrifices he made, especially those that affected his family, in his pursuit of football greatness.

“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,” the 32-year-old football icon recalled. And as it turned out, the sacrifice he made was all worth it.

“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.”