‘Sport’ interview with Messi

Lionel Messi protects himself from the cold of the Argentina winter with a wool cap that warms his head. He is happy, and it reflects in that face of a child as he shares jokes with Sergio Agüero, his inseparable friend. But he sees a loose ball and he fires it off while the national team coach, Sergio Batista, enjoys the scene. Messi, in Argentina, has everyone very happy. Like in Condal City, where he already feels like he is at home. But now, after another winning season at the hand of Pep Guardiola, la Pulga wants to lift an important trophy with the selección absoluta of his country. He’s going for his second Copa América and hopes to take revenge for the defeat in the final against Brazil, even though the Albiceleste was the best team that played in the championship of 2007 in Venezuela. ”It would be beautiful to win the Copa América in our country,” he says to open his interview with Sport.

Have you already recovered from the end of the season? Oof, often wearing…

We played for important things, nice things. There were 20 days that were wearing psychologically. It was tough. Now we’re calmer and thinking about the Copa América.

After so many titles, how does one continue on the road of success?

We formed a nice group. We have the idea to go out and play, and our wish is to be able to win the Copa.

Did you grow in these years from the ‘Guardiola touch’?

With Guardiola, I learned a lot as a player. Yes, I grew, without a doubt, and I feel I can get better. And I want to continue getting better day to day. The coach always brings you things to make you better and you can progress as a player.

Do you like that they say you are the best in the world?

Ha ha, I don’t think that. I just want to continue as I am. I want to keep winning titles, I want the team to continue on this path, but in my mind I have team goals, that Barcelona doesn’t stop winning titles. It was a hard season, difficult, but surely unforgettable. For what defined the league, for having achieved another Champions League, for everything.

Because of the four derbies!

I wanted those days to pass, for good or for bad. They seemed eternal. Despite losing the Copa del Rey, we came out very well. I think if we look at it overall, we did things very well. A shame about the Copa, but we are happy with what we got. And we continue with the hunger for glory. We don’t want to relax. I feel really good in Barcelona. Very loved. We all want to go all out for more.

And with so many declarations…

We never wanted to enter into those. We wanted to go and fight and win playing our way. It went bad for us in the Copa. We gave away the first half and it cost us the final. We have nothing to prove with our playing. We did it in the Champions League and in the league we came out the champions.

After the 5-0, did you all think that the formations of Real Madrid would be different?

Yes, we knew it was going to change. Mourinho knows a lot. With Inter when he came, he did the same thing to us. Putting a lot of people in the middle so that we could not play our game. We knew that it would be different [from the 5-0] and that he was going to convince his people to go out like that [like with Inter]. They were sure about what they would do. And when a player is determined, it’s difficult.

What is Barcelona’s secret?

The desire of the team. That the coach gets you to want to win and get better each day. It’s a team that is not happy with things as they are, a team that thinks of winning, and you can’t relax with what you have. Also, the quality of the players, the coach, everything together.

The whole world knows how FC Barcelona plays, but no one, or very few, have been able to stop your ball possession. Why is that impossible for them?

Maybe having so much time on the ball in the other team’s half, trying to go for the goal, it’s difficult for the rival to counteract that. The coach wants to make the team better, is always correcting things, is very much a perfectionist and looks for errors, details to improve…

From within [the team], can you enjoy Barcelona as much as they do outside [of the team]?

I know that the people enjoy it. It’s noted and they let us know. And I also, from within, enjoy very much playing on the team. My teammates and the team never cease to surprise me. Sometimes we are not aware of what we are doing. We enjoy making the Barcelona fans happy. And now, in my country, I hope the Argentinians can have the joy again of winning the Copa América.

What do you hope for in the coming season?

That Barcelona continues along the same road of success. We are a team. And we’ll keep being a close group. There one doesn’t win alone. There, we all win together. It’s the road that we have followed in the last years and we have to maintain it to again bring joy to the fans.