Candy and a Movie: Movie #48 Lionel Messi: Worlds Greatest Player

Lionel Messi: World's Greatest Player

http://www.101greatgoals.com/gvideos/lionel-messi-itv4-documentary-worlds-greatest-player/

I'm not home this weekend so the movies in the coming soon post will have to wait till I get back to be posted because my notes were there too. In honor of el classico being played later today I thought it would be fitting to watch this documentary I found a little while ago. It's about Leo Messi, a soccer (football) player for Barcelona It might be more of a TV special than a movie but whatever, I'm counting it.

Movie starts out by showing four year old Messi playing soccer in Argentina. He is so small that the ball is almost taller than his knee but he is just destroying those poor children on the other team. They show him at age 11 and he is still weaving through defenses. I'm pretty good at soccer. Other than my 3v3 team (still getting used to the game) I'm usually one of the best players on the field. 11 year old Messi probably could've got around me more times than not. In all of his youth videos, he looks much smaller than all of the kids he was playing against. I always thought that was probably because he was just better than everyone his age and played with the bigger, older kids. Turns out he had a growth hormone deficiency. He still would grow, but just at a slower pace than normal.

He got hormone treatments and at the age of 14 he went on a trial at Barcelona. People there said that he was a ball hog but that's just because he was better than everyone else. When the trial was up, his dad told Barca to either offer him a contract or they were going home. The team didn't have any paper around so they drew up a contract real quick on a napkin, signed it and Messi was now their player. Barcelona coach Johann Cruyff was installing the famous “total football” dutch approach to Barcelona's youth system. Their youth academy was turned into one of the worlds best and definitely had an impact on Messi becoming the player that he is today. He still was dealing with the hormone problem and treatments which weakened him so coaches were only able to see short glimpses of his skills.

Frank Rijakaard gave him his first team debut. He came on at the end of the game and scored on a pretty dirty chip 3 minutes later. The goal was wrongfully ruled offside. 90 seconds later, he scored on an equally dirty chip and this time it counted. All at the age of 17. The first time I remember seeing him(because it was my first time watching European soccer really) was in a champions league game vs Chelsea. Chelsea had on their ugly green jerseys. Messi had a good game but got injured during the return leg and sat out for a few months. Barca made the Champions League final that year vs Arsenal but Messi didn't make the game day roster. He felt that he should, was bummed, and didn't even come down and celebrate with the team when they won.

He scored his only world cup goal in the 2006 tournament that same year which will be talked about more at the end. Their coach messed up by not playing him when they got eliminated vs Germany. His big coming out game was vs Real Madrid of course in the next season. He put in a hat trick as a 19 year old. He was always compared to Maradona and scored two goals that year that were very similar to those of the Argentinian legend. The first was a disgusting run that started in his own half and ended with a close range shot. The second was a handball that was just like the Hand of God goal. Everyone remembers the first but not the latter. I guess that's the reward for being a solid dude, everyone gives a free pass to your mishaps. He was growing into a star and loved playing so much so that one game he pulled his hamstring and started crying when he had to come out. Maybe that was a little much.

There was a whole thing in 2008 when Messi wanted to go play in the Olympics but Barcelona wouldn't let him because he could get injured there. The case went to the court of arbitration and Barca ended up winning. Barcelona's new coach, Pep Guardiola allowed Messi to leave though because he knew how much it meant to him. In the end Messi came back healthy and with a gold medal so everyone won. At some point, all sports teams get old and it becomes time for a new wave of players to come in. It's happening to Chelsea right now. For Barca, it meant the end for Deco and Ronaldinho who was formally the worlds best player. Those were big shoes for Messi to fill when he became the new #10. That year Messi assists on the Iniesta goal that knocked out Chelsea and sent them to the final vs Ronaldo and Man United. Messi not only played in this one but scored a header in a 2-0 win.

His last champions league tie lost came against Mourinho's Inter Milan but he would go on to beat his Madrid team in the next seasons tournament. I remember rooting for Madrid hardcore in that game because I thought that the only reason Barcelona advanced past Arsenal was the bs red card called on Van Persie for shooting just after the whistle was blown. They would beat Man United in the finals again that year at Wembley. I remember that game too, I watched it in a hotel room while in St. Augustine. He went on to win his third straight Ballon D'or (best player trophy) and everyone loves him because he's super humble and thanks his teammates. He shouldn't thank whoever told him that red suit looked good.

Back to the international stuff. In the 2010 world cup with Maradona as the head coach, Messi went scoreless and the team was eliminated by Germany in the quarter finals again. The movie doesn't talk about it but he has also had a Copa America to forget last year too. Argentinian's didn't get mad at his bad performances but questioned if he was trying to win with the national team. He plays so great for Barca, why can't he do the same for Argentina? He does care though so much that he turned down a chance to play for Spain when he was eligible but chose to remain an Argintinian international. Pele and Maradona both won world cups and many people think that it's the only thing in between calling him the best of all time. Gary Southgate goes on to say that it's not Messi's fault and the Argentine team is good enough. The guy is a clown though, every national team that Messi's played on has been stacked. The movie wraps up with Figo, Zidane, Eto'o, Pele and fat Ronaldo all saying that Messi is the best player in the world right now and rightfully so. Wegner says that he's the best ever. Don't know about that one but he is young enough to definitely be.

Rating : 6 soccer ball jaw breakers. Movie wasn't anything special but I learned things I didn't know and saw some good clips so I can't complain.

Not doing anything really special with this one because it's just a straight, informative biography. Not doing what I would do if I was the main character because I had to give up my dream of being a pro soccer player and it's too late to bring up those thoughts again.