He has been invincible on the field for so many years, but Lionel Messi showed his vulnerability in the Spanish television interview on Sunday night.
In an hour of soul-searching answers to questions as broad as “do you know how much a replica shirt costs in the club store?” “Do you think a lot about death and your funeral?” he revealed his soul and came across someone who:
– He really hates to be described as the little dictator of the club who chooses and chooses who arrives and who leaves.
– He doesn’t really know what the future holds for him beyond June, when his contract ends.
– And who was often so overwhelmed by the enormity of his circumstances that his wife often asked him to seek counseling to alleviate the psychological burden.
Barcelona star Lionel Messi showed his vulnerability during his interview with La Sexta
It is obvious that Messi hates to be described as the little dictator of Barcelona, who has a lot of power
Messi’s wife, Antonella Roccuzzo, asked him to seek advice several times
Messi acknowledged that the advice would be beneficial for him, but he has not left yet
“I should have left, but I never went,” he said of his reaction to Antonella Roccuzzo’s request.
“I find it very difficult to take this step, although I know it is something I need. They have often insisted that this is what I need. I’m someone who keeps everything and doesn’t share things. I know I need her. I know it would be good for me, but I didn’t.
The honesty of Messi’s response was applauded on social media.
“It is very healthy for Messi to openly admit that it would be good for him to go to a psychologist,” Spanish broadcaster Anna Punsi posted on Twitter. “Too little thought is given to mental health.”
The Argentine does not seem to know what the future holds for him beyond next June
Jordi Evole, who conducted the interview, posted the video on social media and posted on Twitter: “This statement made by someone like Leo Messi seems very brave to me. And it shows someone who is extremely normal.
And normally it was how he met Messi for most of the one-hour show – he actually got the price of that replica shirt in the club store and shocked Evole by saying yes, he went to his local supermarket on a few or he wished he could do it more regularly, without causing a stir.
So what will he do in June, when it’s time to choose whether to stay in Barcelona or move to another league? The sense of not yet knowing oneself was genuine.
Messi says he would like to play in the USA one day and added that he is in contact with Luis Suarez
He revealed that he wants to play in the USA one day and in another part of the interview he admitted that he talks to his old friend Luis Suarez every day, since Suarez left Barcelona to join Atletico Madrid.
You can imagine that the couple would have discussed both taking their state families and testing their lives in the US and playing their days in MLS. But he didn’t seem to be talking in 2021 when he talked about his desire to go to America. It seemed like a longer-term plan.
He said he did not speak to any of the presidential candidates and even committed a minor offense to interviewer Evole when he felt he doubted the honesty of his response. Of course, just because Messi did not talk to the candidates does not mean that his father Jorge was not in contact. Joan Laporta is an old friend, so, as Evole pointed out, it would be strange if there was no contact.
Messi also admitted that he spoke to Pep Guardiola, although he did not talk about joining City at the end of the season. Again, nothing seemed to be hiding. Messi really doesn’t know.
Showing a greater understanding of reality than some of those who were or want to be in charge of the club, he laughed at the suggestion that Neymar could return, stressing that Barcelona probably did not have the money for such an operation.
Messi deplored the statement of the interim president, Carles Tusquets, that Barcelona would have been better off financially by selling him
“I know the club is in a very bad way,” he said, also lamenting the recent statement by interim president Carlos Tusquets that, financially, it would have been better to sell Messi in the summer. He considered the comments unnecessary and did not become someone whose purpose is really just to keep a firm hand on the helm until a new president is voted on January 24.
Messi’s biggest concern seemed to be destroying his legacy in Barcelona. He struggled to point out that if he left, he should not “stain” everything he had done at the club.
Messi’s answers showed a human fragility that contradicts the ubiquity he shows on the ground
He also said he wanted to return and said he was drawn to the idea of being a football director: “Then I’ll even be able to decide who comes and goes,” he told Evole – that was another digging at those “little” lies of the dictator.
No question shook him – not even his death or his political loyalties (he doesn’t think about it / he only shares his vision in his private circle of friends, but he wants everything to be less partisan) – and every answer showed a human fragility that contradicts the indestructible ubiquity so often displayed on the ground.
That explains why his wife thinks a little advice would help him. It was, as interviewer Evole said, admirable that he acknowledged that Ms Messi was probably right.