For so many years he was invincible on the pitch, but Lionel Messi showed his vulnerability in the Spanish television interview on Sunday night.
In an hour of searching, answers to questions as comprehensive as ‘do you know how much a replica shirt costs at the club store?’ to ‘Do you think a lot about death and your own funeral?’ he stripped his soul and appeared as someone who:
– He really hates being portrayed as the little dictator of the club choosing and choosing who arrives and who leaves.
– You genuinely don’t know what the future holds for you after next June, when your contract ends.
– And that he is often so overwhelmed by the enormity of his circumstances that his wife often asks him to seek counseling to help ease the psychological burden.
Barcelona star Lionel Messi showed his vulnerability during his interview with La Sexta
It is evident that Messi hates being portrayed as the little dictator of Barcelona who has a lot of power
Messi’s wife Antonella Roccuzzo has asked him to seek advice on several occasions
Messi acknowledged that counseling would be beneficial for him, but he has not yet been
“I should have gone, but I never was,” 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 insisted many times that this is what I need. I am a person who keeps everything and does not share anything. I know I need this. I know it would be good for me, but I didn’t do that. ‘
The honesty of Messi’s response was applauded on social media.
“It is very healthy for Messi to openly acknowledge that it would be good for him to go to a psychologist,” tweeted Spanish broadcaster Anna Punsi. ‘Little attention is paid to mental health.’
The Argentine does not seem to know what the future holds for him next June
Jordi Evole, who conducted the interview, posted the clip on social media and tweeted: ‘This statement made by someone like Leo Messi seems very brave to me. And it shows someone who is extremely normal. ‘
And normal was how Messi stayed for most of the hour-long broadcast – he actually got the price on that replica shirt at the club store and shocked Evole by saying that yes, he had gone to the local supermarket a few times and he would like to to be able to do this more regularly, without causing commotion.
What will he do in June, when the time comes to choose whether to stay in Barcelona or move to another league? The feeling that he didn’t know himself yet was genuine.
Messi says he would like to play in the United States one day and added that he is in contact with Luis Suarez
He revealed that he wants to play in the United States one day and in another part of the interview he admitted to talking to old friend Luis Suarez every day since Suarez left Barcelona to join Atletico Madrid.
You can imagine that the duo may have thought of taking their families to the United States to experience life in the United States and play their days in MLS. But it didn’t look like he was talking about 2021 when he talked about his desire to go to America. It seemed like a long-term plan.
He said he had not spoken to any of the presidential candidates and even slightly offended interviewer Evole when he realized that he doubted the honesty of his response. Of course, just because Messi did not speak to the candidates does not mean that his father Jorge has not contacted him. Joan Laporta is an old friend, so, as Evole pointed out, it would be weird that there was no contact.
Messi also admitted to speaking with Pep Guardiola, although not about joining City at the end of the season. Again, it looked like nothing was being hidden. Messi doesn’t really know.
Demonstrating greater attachment to reality than some who have been or want to be in charge of the club, he laughed at the suggestion that Neymar could return pointing out that Barcelona probably did not have money for such an operation.
Messi deplored the statement by interim president Carles Tusquets that Barcelona would have done better financially if they sold him
“I know the club is in very bad shape,” he said, also deploring the recent statement by interim president Carlos Tusquets that, in financial terms, 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 control of the helm until a new president is voted on January 24.
Messi’s biggest concern seemed to be ruining his legacy at Barcelona. He struggled to point out that if he left, it shouldn’t “tarnish” everything he had achieved at the club.
Messi’s responses showed a human weakness that belies the omnipresence he shows on the field
He also said he wanted to go back and said he was attracted to the idea of being a football director: ‘Then I can really decide who comes and goes,’ he told Evole – that was another criticism of those ‘little distaste for the dictator.
No question upset him – not even about death, or about his political loyalties (don’t think about it / just state your opinion in your private circle of friends, but I would like everything to be anything but partisan) – and each answer showed a human fragility that belies the indestructible omnipresence so often displayed in the field.
This explains why his wife believes that a little bit of counseling would help him. It was, as interviewer Evole said, admirable that he admitted that Ms. Messi was probably right about that.