The Argentine, 25 years of age, who expects the arrival of his first child in about a month, recaps his career at Barcelona and his challenges for the future.

Leo Messi met journalists at 9 am at the sports city in Barcelona and he arrives with extreme punctuality. The sun is warm and the footballer has the tendency to get cold so the members of the Club’s press team offer him a jacket that he rejects, “I’m fine”.

25 years old, the Argentine from Rosario expects in about a month the birth of his first son, Thiago, and he looks happy. Besides the time, he doesn’t ask for anything else in order to give the interview. Kind, smiling and willing to explain himself if needed, he doesn’t keep anything when he answers, convinced that being before the press is a demand he could do with out but is manageable.

Q: They say you love to sleep, but you arrived here at 8:30. Are you getting ready to lose your sleep when Thiago arrives?
Lionel: I’ve always loved to sleep, but I keep sleeping less and less. I do love to nap, though. For Thiago’s arrival I’m so ready. I’m so looking forward to it.

Q: Clearly, you learned that nap thing here in Barcelona…
A: I learned everything here! I arrived here when I was 13 years old, I grew up here, I went to school… Most of the stuff I know I learned here in Barcelona. I’ve always said I’m very grateful because I truly feel it.

Q: Do you feel you’ve given back to Barcelona even more than what you received when you were a kid?
A: No, I don’t know… I’ve always wanted to show my commitment to the club. At first, maybe it was more obvious. Now it’s the usual. This is my home, my club. I owe everything to Barça. And, I’ve always said it, I’m happy here.

Q: What does it mean that the youth team coach and two more kids from that team are working in the first team now?
A: It’s an example of how Barcelona works. Everybody knew that this team had one of the best generations in the youth academy. There are three players playing for the first team now [Piqué, Cesc and himself], but there are a lot who have become professional players in general, like Vázquez and Valiente, and they have already played in Spain. There are others playing for other teams too, but everybody knew that most of us will get far, maybe not in the first team, but at least to earn a living playing football for good clubs.

Q: You state that you don’t care how many goals you score, that you rather win titles. Is there anything that you especially care about?
A: Yes, I prefer to win titles with the team instead of individual awards or score more goals than anybody. I am more concerned about being a good person than being the world’s best player. Besides, in the end, when this is all over, what do you take with you? My intention is that, when I retire, everybody will remember me for being a good guy. I like to score goals, but also having friends among the people I played with [or against]. It’s good to be valued as a person, that they have a good impression of you, beyond scoring lots of goals.

Q: So you’re not worried about winning the fourth Ballon D’Or either?
A: The awards are fine. I’m grateful, of course. But, deep down, you [journalists, public] care more about it, you’re always asking is this player better than the other one. Xavi or Iniesta? Who knows? My good luck is having landed in this Barça, full of amazing players. They’ve given me everything: the awards, the titles, the goals, everything. This is a team that already made history for everything we won. I’m lucky to play here and play for Argentina, where I have amazing footballers by my side. That’s the most important thing. The teams make me better, for sure. Without the help of my team mates, I would be nothing, I wouldn’t win anything. No titles, no awards, nothing.

Q: What makes you angry?
A: I hate to lose. In life? In life, poverty. I come from a country where it’s glaring. There are very young kids who have no choice other than to go out onto the streets to ask for money or they have to work doing whatever they can and they are all very young.

Q: What about that famous bubble where all footballers live? Aren’t you oblivious to these mundane things?
A: No. How are you going to be oblivious to this! We’re privileged people for living the way we live. I never lacked anything when growing up, beyond of course missing my siblings and my mother when I had to stay here in Barcelona with just my dad. But the reality is very different. Lots of parents have to work very hard to give their children what they need…I know it.

Q: You’re going to be a dad. Has that changed the way you see things?
A: Yes, you start to think about everything in a different way. You don’t think about yourself anymore. You think about him, that he never has any kind of problem, anything. It does change the way you see things, of course.

Q: Speaking of change, have you practiced the whole diaper business?
A: I already went through it with my nephews. I’m an expert.

Q: You have a foundation to help children in need.
A: We focus on education, we try to get them out of the streets through education and sports. We work with Unicef, hospitals, schools…It’s nice to be able to help.

Q: Rarely do we see your face light up more than when a kid comes near you to say hello. What’s that about?
A: Children are the most precious thing in the world, especially when they’re little and there’s no evil in them. They see you and they transform. Some feel very embarrassed. They don’t speak, they don’t understand I’m there talking to them because they only see you on television and, when they see you right in front of them, they almost freak out. Making a kid happy is what makes me feel best.

Q: Kids and adults try to get near you… Fame puts you in the spotlight all the time. Is it tiring?
A: No because I’m not faking it in any moment. I am the way I am on and off the pitch. That’s why I’m never worried about being watched because I’m always the same. I’m always myself. It’s been a long time since I’m well known and the embarrasment you felt in the beginning is long gone.

Q: You said once that on the pitch it is more difficult to play the way Iniesta or Xavi do it than playing the way you do. Is what you do easy?
A: I do what I can to help the team and I wouldn’t know how to do what they do. I just try to help the team, always. I don’t like losing at anything and I try to help the team to win. I’ve always said: I go out thinking about winning, not about scoring lots of goals.

Q: The way you play, can you train for it?
A: I don’t think so, I don’t know… Since I was little I played this way…

Q: That’s whay Tito Vilanova says.
A: What does he say?

Q: He says that, to his own surprise, you have been doing what you do since you were a kid, but now you do it against the best in the world, not 14 year-old kids.
A: My way of playing didn’t change much, it’s true, but I obviously learned a lot of things about the game. It helped that I came here to Barcelona and I worked in the way of the cantera and was taken care of. Just yesterday I was watching the seven year-old kids training right next to us, and the way they’re schooled is different than anywhere else in the world. Since you’re very young, they teach you how to play, to take care of the ball, tactics, to understand the game. And even though they are very young they already play the way we do! It never ceases to amaze me.

Q: They say that when you knew Tito would take over Pep Guardiola’s position, you just smiled, but that that smile made the whole club feel reassured.
A: Yes, it’s possible I smiled because it made me feel good to know that Tito would replace Pep. I have known him since I was a kid and we’ve now been five years together, with Pep and him. I thought that might be good. Look, Tito was the first coach that made me play because up until that moment I was either on the bench or not playing at all and it was him who made me a starter in that category [cadete]. I know him. He’s a very normal person, and open. He gets straight to the point, he says everything face to face with no problem. I like that.

Q: There were fights when you were cadetes, people say…
A: I can’t remember! [Laughs]. Surely there were some because it was a team with great people, but dangerous!

Q: Do you remember your first game in the cantera?
A: No, but I remember I injured my shinbone a little bit later.

Q: Is it true Piqué was always defending you when you were kicked?
A: Yes. He was already the tallest and we were all smaller. Dad was always there standing up for us.

Q: So did you all agree to become fathers so you could all go together to the park?
A: No! Pure coincidence. All at once [Piqué, Pedro, Villa and Valdes will have children too]. It’s a symptom we are all growing up and we have more responsibilities. A beautiful responsibility.

Q: Seeing you’re never satisfied with scoring just once, we can only assume you’ll have a big family, right? Are you going for a treble?
A: No, I don’t know…The more, the better. As many as they come!

Q: Another thing that amazes us is that is very difficult to make you fall and you never dive.
A: That’s another thing I have done since my childhood. It’s always been that way. I’ve always tried to finish the play. I don’t know…I’ve never been one to dive, I’ve never tried to do it.

Q: They say that you were the only player at the youth academy they never try to correct and they always respected your skills.
A: Sometimes they corrected me, but I can’t remember. They respected my way of playing, though here the philosophy is to stop with the first touch. But…I didn’t give the ball to anybody! Lots of times they told me to try to let the ball go until they realized I couldn’t do it so they let it go. But it’s true that, little by little, I tried to pass more. But when I first got here…I didn’t give the ball to anybody!

Q: Do you speak much on the pitch?
A: No, I don’t speak much [laughs].

Q: Your rivals and the refs wouldn’t agree with that…
A: Oh! With the refs and the rivals I speak more. With my team mates only what is needed. It’s been a long time since we play together that we just need a look in the eye.

Q: Ok, what about that fight with Villa? Didn’t you have a perfect dressing room?
A: I already told you to not look for problems where there are none, you better look the other way. There’s nothing there. We have a dressing room that works beyond the sports aspect, it’s spectacular. It’s been a long time since we are together, but it turns out the human aspect of the people in there is huge. You have no idea what a good time we have there. And after so many years, it’s not easy.

Q: Is that the best thing?
A: No, the best thing about this team is that we go out to play the games the same way we’ve played for the last five years, that we have the ball almost all the time, that it’s ours. And, above all that, the best thing about this team is the ambition and the hunger we have to keep on winning things. After everything we’ve won, you lose a game in training and you get upset. That’s the best thing: our ambition.

Q: Is that the way Pep showed you?
A: Yes, Pep showed us the way and we follow it. He was the one who made us play with the idea of taking the initiative, of always going for the goal. He gave us the attitude, he convinced us that by playing this way we will always win. It was spectacular. Beyond what he knows as a coach, he’s a phenomenon for the way he analyzed games and prepared for them. I don’t think there will ever be another coach like him.

Q: Rijkaard was the first one. Are you still angry about not having played the final in Paris?
A: I owe him practically everything. He was the one who trusted me, who gave me my debut when I was younger, who knew how to take me every step of the way. He knew when he had to leave me out and, even though I didn’t like it or get it in that moment, I understood it later. Everything that came after that was thanks to him.

Q: With Rijkaard you scored your first goal against Madrid. Well, three…
A: It was spectacular. We tied in the last minute, but it worked for us because we were in the first place and for how it happened… Later there were other goals but yes, those are unforgettable of course.

Q: What game against Madrid you remember the most?
A: I remember all the games we won. It’s the most beautiful thing, winning against Madrid, for what it means. It’s a great team. Maybe I’d choose the semifinal in Champions there, for what it meant.

Q: And also, scoring goals against Casillas. You don’t like him or what?
A: No, quite the opposite. I was lucky and I could score in these last clásicos. I hope to keep it that way. Iker is an amazing goalkeeper, one of the best. I’ve scored many goals, but he has also saved lots, lots. He’s very good, very fast.

Q: Are the games against Mourinho’s Madrid especially tough?
A: Every game is different. They’re always tough. Against Madrid, for what it means, for the talent of their players, it’s even tougher. But all games now are tougher. We couldn't score against Granada until the 85th minute, we almost lost against Spartak. Every time it’s more difficult. We want to attack and they defend with everything they can…We’ve been playing like this for a long time. The rivals know it and they look for the weak spot. If they get lucky with the counter attack, maybe Valdes won’t be able to save it and with very little they make things complicated for you. And it keeps getting worse, more complicated.

Q: What do you admire about Real Madrid?
A: I like to play at the Bernabéu. It’s a club with great history.

Q: What about Mourinho’s team?
A: Madrid kills you with a counter attack. It has very fast forwards and the link defense-attack lasts five seconds and then it’s a goal. They don’t need to play well to score three goals. They create lots of scoring chances because of their players, who are very good. I’m lucky to know Higuaín and Di Maria very well. Pipa might not show up but suddenly he touches two balls and scores two goals. Out of nowhere Madrid scores.

Q: What do you think about Mourinho?
A: I can’t say. I don’t know him, I’ve never spoken to him. I can just talk about what he’s achieved, which is a lot, lots of titles. I know his players are very fond of him, but I don’t know him.

Q: Mourinho says that Barça plays boring football and that the Spanish NT is defensive.
A: Yeah?

Q: He said that at the UEFA coaches reunion: “They play with four in defense and six midfielders. It’s not offensive football. It’s tiring and gets people bored”.
A: Spain plays almost the same way we do. You can’t take the ball away from them. And for a player it's good if you play with them. I played against Spain and I was running behind them trying to get the ball and couldn’t reach it. It also happened in Madrid, in Murcia…In Argentina it was another thing. But I’ve never ran that much without the ball than when I played against Spain.

Q: Where is the Argentina NT right now?
A: Sabella has it very clear, he knows what he wants and he makes it known. New people came in and I think we are on the right path now.

Q: Do you dream of winning the World Cup in Brazil in two years?
A: I’d love to make it happen for what it’d mean for Argentina and for me.

Q: Would you retire without having played once for Ñuls [Newell’s Old Boys]?
A: Oh, I don’t know! I’ve always said I’d love to play in Argentina for what it means, for the way people live football there, because it was my dream since I was very young to debut and play in Primera before I came here. That’s one thing on my to-do list, but, I don’t know, there’s a long way to go until then.

Q: Is there anything you’ve liked about football lately?
A: To see the kids at the youth academy train. I’m amazed every time I see them, when I see how Barça works. They’re so young and they already play like that…You go to other places and they don’t do it, just here. That’s why I keep watching the kids, I like that.

Q: An italian journalist once said after inteviewing you that he felt like the defenses that are supposed to stop you: “You get everything ready, you try to know what way he’ll go, what he’s gonna do, you feel ready and, in the end, he always gets away”.
A: And he leaves thinking “I didn’t get anything from him!” [laughs] No, I always say what I think, but I don’t feel the need to get in trouble. I’m not interested in looking for conflict or problems. It’s not my idea nor my style. I don’t see any point in trash talking people you’ve just seen play but don’t even really know. I rather be respectful, that’s it. And you try, eh…But I just don’t want to get into it.

Q: Are you ticklish?
A: No, I’m not ticklish.

Leo Messi tiene claro que sus compañeros del Barcelona lo son todo para él: “A mí me hace mejor el equipo, seguro”, asegura el argentino en una entrevista concedida a El País. El mejor futbolista del mundo habla sobre su pasado, su trayectoria, la plantilla actual y su nuevo entrenador.

“Mi suerte es haber caído en este Barcelona, en el que hay grandísimos jugadores. Me lo ha dado todo: los premios, los títulos, los goles, todo. Este es un equipo que ya entró en la historia por todo lo que ganó. Tengo la suerte de jugar aquí y de hacerlo con Argentina, donde tengo grandísimos futbolistas al lado. Eso es lo fundamental. A mí me hace mejor el equipo, seguro. Sin la ayuda de los compañeros, no sería nada, no ganaría nada. Ni títulos ni premios, nada”, analiza.

El argentino tiene envidia de lo que hacen Iniesta y Xavi: “Yo hago lo que puedo para ayudar al equipo y no sabría hacer lo que hacen ellos”, explica.

“Prefiero ganar títulos con el equipo antes que premios individuales o meter más goles que nadie. Me preocupa más ser buena persona que ser el mejor futbolista del mundo”.