Lionel Messi spoke about his debut with the Argentina national team, the current team and Michael Jordan.

Messi spoke in an interview with JP Varsky of Clank Media where he commented on his style of playing, why he walks on the pitch during a match, going to the Olympics with Argentina and Pep Guardiola telling him he will play as a false number nine. In the same interview, he spoke about his debut with Argentina. Here is what he had to say:

“I cried a lot the day of my debut in the national team. In the locker room, Kily González consoled me by telling me that the same thing had happened to him.”

He also spoke about being with the Argentina national team:

“These moments of enclosure in the training camp, when a group is good and you get along well, it’s good. You spend a lot of time with your teammates and it goes by fast. Time flies.

“In 2014, I felt that I had to make a change, that I didn’t feel good and that I could get much more out of my physique and Martín Demichelis made me meet a doctor that I went to for several years and learned a lot from him.

“The 2016 locker room was the saddest of all. It was the third (final lost) in a row, we had done a very good Copa América. As a result of that I gave the statements I did.

“It was very difficult for me to return to the national team. They were all new guys and I didn’t know any of them personally, and it’s very difficult for me to get into groups.

“And Rodrigo helped me a lot, because of the way he is, when I met him he reminded me a lot of Pocho Lavezzi.

“He approached me, we talked, and he made me join the group much faster. He helped me a lot.”

About Michael Jordan:

“The Last Dance’ is impressive. That brought me much closer to living what he is. I would have loved to have lived through that era.

“I don’t know much about basketball, but he was someone different than everyone else.”

Lionel Messi spoke about going to the Olympics and Pep Guardiola telling how that he will play as a false nine.

Messi gave an interview to JP Varsky on Clank Media where he commented on his style of playing and why he walks on the pitch during a match. In the same interview, Messi spoke about going to the Olympics with Argentina. Here is what he had to say:

“We had to get into the Champions League. I had a bit of a long face… I wanted to go and play in the Olympic Games. Guardiola realized it right away. He is a very intelligent person.

“He grabbed me, we had a talk and he told me: ‘Stay calm, we are going to enter the Champions League. You go, I’m going to leave you there, win the Olympic Games and then come back because we’re going to have a long year.”

He also commented on tactics and Pep Guardiola telling him he will play as a false number nine against Real Madrid:

“The Guardiola era was very confusing. There are boys of 6-7 years old who are taught to play with two touches and at that age what happened to me has to happen, to maintain the spontaneity of the South American player.

“I didn’t pay much attention to tactics. With Guardiola I learned a lot and I began to understand much more about the game, about spaces, about ball possession, about managing games with the ball.

“Football has evolved a lot too. It is too tactical. Today any team with a 4-4 line or with five at the back, well organized and well worked, makes it difficult for you. Before, you could find much more spaces. Today it is more tactical and more physical.

“I found out about the false 9 the day before the game against Real Madrid, Pep sent for me, showed me a couple of videos and told me:

‘We’re going to play with a false 9, that the center-backs don’t have the reference and I want to be one more in the middle of the pitch to have the ball.

“To go to Madrid to win Madrid we have to have the ball and be protagonists. If we want to win we have to be far superior to them, and I want to have the ball.

“I want you to come to the midfield, to join up with Busi, Xavi and Andres. If the central defenders come out, we have Samuel and Tití who are the ones who are going to play in space.”