The diminutive genius talks us through the most iconic moments of his illustrious career, with journalists, teammates and opponents offering insight and analysis into the goals and games that will define his legacy.
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04:43 - We play Serbia, one of the toughest defenses in Europe
04:57 at the time, I think it got to the World Cup with,
04:59 I think zero goal conceded.
05:01 So that was a great game.
05:04 There were some great goals, some great football.
05:06 There was a goal that we all remember,
05:08 that we touched the ball 27 times,
05:10 I think, Cambiaso's goal.
05:11 Messi started on the bench, I think,
05:13 and then he came on later,
05:15 and then he added to that festival.
05:17 We smashed two pieces,
05:18 one of the toughest defenses in world football.
05:21 But then we thought, you know, we did okay.
05:25 Maybe it is fine, Messi coming in,
05:28 bringing something extra, but not at the time.
05:32 He was a good player, a very good player,
05:34 but not what he was about to come.
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09:08 - Well, the Olympics were an outstanding event.
09:30 We tried many times, we lost finals,
09:33 and it was special.
09:35 Bielsa convinced everybody that it was worth it.
09:39 Leo, I think he was,
09:41 he had these issues with Barcelona about being released.
09:45 He managed to get there.
09:47 It was very important.
09:48 It was an outstanding day.
09:49 We won World Cups, but the Olympic Games
09:51 is something that we really, really wanted.
09:53 In fact, our neighbors, the Brazilians,
09:55 they had to wait a bit longer than us,
09:57 and they also waited for a long time.
09:59 So the Olympic football, it's not a World Cup,
10:01 but it's very, very important.
10:03 It was something that Leo Messi was fundamental to achieve.
10:07 - But for anybody to doubt what he's been doing for Argentina,
10:15 it's outrageous,
10:17 and I think they probably will realize when he's gone.
10:19 In a way, Argentina is living a golden era
10:23 because they've been in a World Cup final,
10:25 they've been in two American Cup finals,
10:28 and when you win or lose,
10:31 it's just down to little details.
10:33 He could have gone one way or the other.
10:35 Some of them, of course, were goals in extra time
10:39 or were wins at penalty shoot-outs.
10:42 So to say that Leo Messi's not doing well with Argentina
10:46 is basically not realizing that they are living a special moment.
10:56 - It happens.
10:58 There are games that happen in different ways.
11:01 I also had to go to Madrid and lose by four goals.
11:05 There are circumstances that happen in games
11:08 that, for one reason or another,
11:10 are decided in that way.
11:12 And, well, that time we didn't have to win like that.
11:16 It's special for everyone,
11:18 for how we won at the Bernabéu,
11:20 because it had been a new position for me
11:24 in that game,
11:27 because we had invented something new with me,
11:31 and we would probably be talking about all that.
11:35 - Well, for sure, it's not the easiest player to stop.
11:40 You know, he has so many qualities,
11:43 and he can do so many different things
11:46 that it's difficult to find out how to stop him.
11:49 - I remember that game,
11:51 when the game was over,
11:54 we were on the plane together,
11:57 and I said to him,
11:59 "Have you seen Leo Messi's best game?"
12:02 He said, "No, the best game will be the next one."
12:05 But that day, you could see people's faces
12:09 at the Bernabéu,
12:11 and everyone was saying, "My God, why Messi is at Barça?"
12:16 - Yes, of course, at that moment,
12:19 I thought and imagined that goal,
12:22 and I understood it, and thank God,
12:25 it came out, and it was a goal
12:28 that was very important in every way,
12:31 for me, individually, for the team,
12:34 for how we got to the final.
12:37 The truth is that it was one of the most important goals
12:41 that I scored, and it was the most beautiful goal for me.
12:45 At that moment, it seemed difficult
12:48 to win with Ferdinand in front,
12:51 but he fell right where I was,
12:54 where there was no mark,
12:57 and it was right in the middle,
13:00 so that it could be scored.
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13:07 We always tried to defend ourselves well.
13:14 We had a very good team that defended itself very well,
13:17 we had Ferdinand, we had Vida, we had Patrisson,
13:20 we had experienced players in football,
13:23 and we knew we would be playing with a great quality team.
13:26 At the same time, we had to defend ourselves,
13:29 but we had players to attack, like Cristiano Ronaldo,
13:32 like Edson Parque, like Giggs.
13:35 We were at the same level as Barcelona,
13:38 because we had already won the English Championship,
13:41 and we were playing our second league title in a row,
13:44 so we were very confident.
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13:50 That was the moment of the game
13:54 when we were on top of Barcelona,
13:57 where Tevez had missed a ball,
14:00 and we were defending Barcelona,
14:03 but we were careful and scored.
14:06 The 2009 Champions League final
14:09 started really in the ClĂĄsico, previously,
14:12 because just before the ClĂĄsico,
14:15 Pep Guardiola asked,
14:18 very late in the day, Leo Messi,
14:21 to come to the training ground,
14:24 Messi doesn't live far away from it,
14:27 and he made some videos and said,
14:30 "You know that space here, in between the midfielders and the centre-backs,
14:33 I want you to play there."
14:36 That was the beginning of the false nine role he played for Barcelona.
14:39 Barcelona killed Real Madrid,
14:42 but it seems to me that Manchester United had not stood that game properly,
14:45 because what happened in the Champions League final
14:48 was that Messi started on the right-hand side,
14:51 Eto'o was in the centre of the attack,
14:54 and in 10 minutes, having Cristiano Ronaldo
14:57 had a chance for Manchester United,
15:00 that could have put them ahead, it was still 0-0,
15:03 and Pep Guardiola asked Eto'o and Messi to change places.
15:06 Eto'o went on the right-hand side,
15:09 Messi came inside, and then he became not just a false nine,
15:12 but linked as well with the midfield.
15:15 They created superiority in the midfield,
15:18 Manchester United did not know how to deal with that,
15:21 and that was the beginning of the victory for Barcelona.
15:24 It's very nice to be the winner of such a beautiful and important league,
15:45 and to be able to be the best player in the world,
15:51 it's a very good statistic.
15:57 I remember when I broke the record,
16:01 I was talking to Leo, and he told me that he didn't play for the records,
16:06 he played to have a good time.
16:11 This is a player that my generation has not seen before,
16:15 I don't think we've ever seen before,
16:18 and it's down to the consistency of his efforts,
16:21 his performances in big games as well.
16:24 The fact that he's carried a team like Barcelona to win everything,
16:28 and Barcelona won with Pep Guardiola,
16:31 with Tito Villanova, with Tata Martino, with Luis Enrique,
16:35 and in the middle of all that, there was one thing coinciding,
16:39 and that was Messi.
16:41 We're talking about the team that perhaps is one of the greatest in history,
16:44 certainly one that has changed history,
16:46 but again, it coincides that has Messi in it.
16:50 It was a round day, because of how everything went.
17:03 To score the 500th goal, the 3-2 in the last minute,
17:06 a game where if we didn't win, we would practically say goodbye to LaLiga.
17:14 A goal that gave us hope to continue dreaming of LaLiga.
17:19 A game that we deserved to win, because of how it went,
17:23 and winning in the last minute was very special for all Barcelona fans.
17:29 For me, because he's the best player in the world,
17:32 he managed to be at the same level for 10 years,
17:38 and his level is different from the rest.
17:41 To be able to do that in 10 years is something very few or almost nonexistent.
17:48 Then you add the quality he has, and it becomes the best in history.
17:57 The most important goal in the history of LaLiga
18:00 is the one that will be remembered for the rest of his life.
18:03 It's a goal that will be remembered for the rest of his life.
18:06 I think he won it all in one game, or in one game.
18:25 He's also a surreal player, a player from another planet.
18:29 One of the greatest in the last years, and he's so influential for Barcelona.
18:52 He's able to do the impossible in a simple way.
18:55 In training, he does things that no one else does,
19:00 but in a way that he hardly ever tries to do.
19:03 I think that's what makes him different.
19:06 The one I talk about the least is going to be a lot,
19:15 because he's a guy who doesn't give comments.
19:17 What he does on the pitch is inexplicable.
19:20 He's a great player.
19:22 Leo Messi is a source of happiness, and happiness to a higher degree.
19:30 Here they say that Leo Messi is better than making love with your partner,
19:35 because the happiness that Leo Messi gives you is longer.
19:39 And that's what people here in Barcelona feel.
19:41 This question about Messi being the greatest player ever,
19:49 is one that perhaps in 10 years' time we'll look back and say,
19:52 "Why did we even ask?"
19:55 (Messi's "The Greatest" plays)
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