Messi (1): "I'm not going to change my style"

Barcelona player Lionel Messi gave an interview to Italian sports paper La Gazzetta dello Sport.





In Spain, many people say that Messi is too individualistic.
I play like that since I was a boy and I'm not going to change. I'm an instinctive player, an individualist who nevertheless works for the team. Rijkaard and Guardiola have understood this.

Guardiola is different from Rijkaard?
Guardiola likes a lot to be between the players, to make us feel his presence, to speak with us. He still seems a player.

You feel liberated from the shadow of Ronaldinho and Deco?
Without them, Barcelona's way of playing has changed and everyone has benefited from that: the ball is doing more work now.

What is your role in the team?
I got used to playing on the rigth wing, close to the side, although I always try to cut towards the center. I also like to play as centre forward with more freedom of movement, like I often do under Guardiola.

Maradona has critiziced you.
Things have been said at the time. I know that Diego respects me and I don't hold anything against him.

Who were your idols when you were young?
Aimar above all, when he played with River Plate. But also D'Alessandro and the Colombian Angel.

Not Maradona?
I've only seen him play once, when I was five years old. My father took me to the stadium of Newell's Old Boys, the club he was a fan of. But I don't remember anything.

Now he'll be your coach at the national team.
No problem, it's a great person. I admire him for what he has given to the Argentinian football.

Argentina is in chaos...
But I am optimistic: the generation that won the Olympics is coming. If in 2006 we would have been more fortunate in the quarter finals against Germany, we could have won the tournament. Argentina didn't win the World cup for too long.


This was the first part of this interview. The second part will follow soon, with Messi talking -amongst other things - about the opponents in the Liga and the Champions League.