Piqué was a firm believer in Catalonia. The boy regarded every game against Real Madrid as a battle.
Messi smiled shyly. He did not think too much about it. He took every opponent seriously, and the name Real Madrid did make Messi more motivated.
He knew that it was not easy for him to still be able to stand on the football field and play football. Therefore, he cherished every opportunity to play more than anyone else.
Messi's talent was beyond doubt. This was the key reason why Newell signed the contract with Messi on March 21, 1994. After all, Messi was three months away from his seventh birthday at the time. Unfortunately, Messi was diagnosed with insufficient growth hormone secretion when he was 11 years old and had to be treated with injections. At the time, the 11-year-old child was about the same height as an eight-or nine-year-old child.
His short stature became the first obstacle for Messi to become a professional player. During the trial of River Plate, Messi scored ten goals, but River Plate's response was, "His performance was excellent, but the youth team thought he was too short. Besides, we had to take care of his food and accommodation." Just like that, River Plate passed by Messi.
Later, a doctor pointed out that the source of Messi's illness was related to malnutrition. Argentina produced the world's best beef and had the world's best cheese, but that did not belong to Messi. Messi grew up eating potatoes and carrots. There was no oil in the soup. Playing football consumed a lot of energy. Obviously, the nutrition could not keep up.
To become a professional player, Messi had to receive treatment, and the huge cost of treatment was not something the family could afford. At the time, Messi's father, Jorge, earned 1,600 pesos a month, but the treatment alone cost 900 pesos a month, which was more than half of the family's income. Jorge hoped that Newell could pay part of the cost, but the club only came up with 300 pesos, which was far from enough.
At the crucial moment, Messi met the benefactor of his life, Tournini, a scout who had been scouting young players for Barça in South America for many years. With Tournini's help, Messi's family moved to Barcelona. At that time, Barça's sports director, Rexach, saw Messi's training and matches and signed the contract without hesitation. He also arranged for the club to treat his illness. From that moment on, Messi's path to becoming a superstar finally opened.
At this time, Messi did not know the height of his future. He only knew that he had to treat every game seriously and play well.
"How tall is Messi?" Li Ang asked assistant coach Banderas.
The latter looked at the piece of paper in his hand. It was Barcelona's official player information. "169cm!"
Li Ang nodded. According to later media reports, Messi's height was about 170cm, about the same as it was now. It seemed that Barcelona's treatment was effective. With a height of 169cm, although it was still short among football players, it was enough for Messi!
And because of his relatively short height, Messi was faster and more agile than others.
After the young players. Barcelona's team coaches and staff walked into the field.
Barcelona's under-17 A team manager, Vilanova, walked towards Li Ang. He extended his hand to show his friendliness to his opponent. He was one of Barcelona's people in the truest sense of the word. When he was a player, he was a product of La Masia's youth training camp. However, his football talent was average and he later played for some small teams. After retiring, he returned to Barcelona and began coaching from the youth team. He had contributed to La Masia's youth training over the years. Messi and the young players were carefully cultivated by Vilanova.
Li Ang did not recognize the man who later became Barcelona's manager. What surprised him was the middle-aged man standing two or three meters behind Vilanova. He was half-bald, had a big nose, and had spirited eyes. This man was not a coach of any echelon in Barcelona, but he had a supreme position in La Masia. This was a Dutchman. His name was Johan Cruyff, Barcelona's godfather!
"Why is Cruyff here?" Li Ang's mind flashed with a hint of suspicion.
"Mr. Li Ang …" Vilanova looked a little embarrassed. He extended his hand but did not receive a response. The Real Madrid coach seemed to be in a daze. Of course, you could not be sure if this person was really in a daze or deliberately neglecting and humiliating him.
"Ah, hello …" Li Ang shook hands with Vilanova a little absent-mindedly. His eyes did not even look at the Barcelona coach in front of him. Cruyff's appearance shocked Li Ang and even made him a little flustered. At the moment, his mind was full of questions like, "Why is Cruyff here?", "What is his intention for coming here?", "Who is commanding Barcelona in this game?", and so on. If Cruyff was commanding Barcelona, it would be a huge crisis for Li Ang. Even though Cruyff was old, you could not deny that this Dutchman had the deepest understanding of Barcelona's football philosophy, because this football philosophy was created by this Dutchman. The old fox was the most difficult to deal with.
It was precisely because of these questions in his mind that Li Ang's thoughts were a little confused. Therefore, his polite handshake with Vilanova was a little too casual, so it seemed disrespectful.
This naturally made Vilanova unhappy. This gentleman, who had always been good-tempered, was also angry. On the one hand, it was because he was neglected. On the other hand, he thought that this was a deliberate humiliation by Real Madrid to Barcelona. This was the most intolerable thing for a Barcelona person.
Vilanova snorted and walked away.
"Li, you were too rude just now," Pablo Banderas reminded him with a frown.
"Ah? What? "Li Ang looked at his assistant and did not answer the question." What do you think Cruyff is doing here? "
On the sidelines, Rodriguez, the head of the youth training center at the Charmartin Training Base, had a gloomy expression. Candelaria was slandering him. "Sir, that Chinese's behavior just now was too rude. It was a disgrace to Real Madrid."
Rodriguez did not speak. He just looked over there deeply. This game with Barcelona was the best opportunity for him to get rid of Li Ang.
Cruyff was chatting with Vilanova about something. His eyes were fixed on Messi, who was on the field.
Li Ang understood. The Godfather of Barça was probably here to observe Messi and his friends. After Messi came to Barcelona, he was deeply loved by Cruyff. The Dutchman had always paid attention to Messi's growth. This game with Real Madrid was clearly an opportunity to test the performance of Messi and the others. Therefore, Cruyff came to watch the game.
Now that he had determined Cruyff's intentions, Li Ang was not so worried.
On the field, Messi was warming up. He looked very confident and did not have stage fright. Growing up differently from his peers had honed him and made Messi more mature.
Li Ang scratched his head. The key to today's game was whether they could defend against Messi. To be honest, even though he had done a lot of preparation, Li Ang was not confident.
Cruyff's arrival caused some commotion among the fans watching the game on the sidelines. The Godfather of Barcelona was actually here to watch the youth team's game. This was big news.
"Hey, look over there, it's that Dutchman!"
"Why is he here?"
There was also a commotion among the reporters. This was a national derby between the under-17 youth teams. There were not too few reporters, but not too many either. Most of them were relatively young rookie reporters. After all, this was only a youth level game. However, Cruyff's arrival made these reporters very happy. The Godfather of Barça had come from Barcelona to watch a youth level game in Madrid. This was big news.
When Cruyff passed by Li Ang, he looked at him in surprise. He did not expect the manager of Real Madrid's under-17 A team to be like this. Li Ang's age was enough to surprise Cruyff, not to mention his Asian face.
Vilanova was still unhappy about what had just happened. Cruyff patted him on the shoulder. "If you feel humiliated, then get rid of them! Make them pay for everything that had just happened! “
Obviously, Cruyff also thought that Li Ang had purposely used such a disrespectful way to intimidate Barcelona.
A manager of his age using such a disrespectful way to treat a manager of the other team, and then being psychologically satisfied? How childish and ridiculous.
This was the first time he had a negative impression.
The Godfather of Barça did not have a good impression of the young manager.
PS: First update, dear friends, my new book has just started, so I need your care and protection. Please collect it and recommend it.
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