Lionel Messi has explained how Brazilian legend Ronaldinho and other senior Barcelona players helped him overcome his teenage nervousness, encouraging him to set aside the pressure of sharing a dressing room with football stars and concentrate on enjoying the game.
The eight-time Ballon d’Or winner said his naturally shy personality made it difficult to adjust to Barcelona’s first-team environment at 16, even though he had the talent that would ultimately establish him as one of football’s greatest players.
Speaking to students in Oviedo on Thursday before receiving the Princess of Asturias Award for Sports, the Inter Miami forward remembered how the presence of established stars initially intimidated him.
“I had to walk into a first-division dressing room packed with stars when I was just 16. I was nervous.
“I had people like Ronaldinho, Samuel Eto’o, Xavi, Carlos Puyol, and many others around me.
“It was difficult for me because of my personality. “I’m shy, and I found it hard to come out of my shell,” Messi said, according to GB News on Friday.
Messi said that his more experienced teammates urged him to set aside their reputations and focus on the football he had played since childhood.
“What they told me was to forget about everything, forget the context, and just enjoy myself and do what I had been doing all my life since I was a kid, without thinking about who was next to me.
“They told me to do what I loved doing and what I enjoyed,” he said.
The Argentine ultimately became Barcelona’s all-time leading goalscorer and secured numerous major honors during his spell with the Spanish club.
Ronaldinho, one of the established stars when Messi entered the first team, reportedly identified the teenager’s exceptional potential from their earliest training sessions.
According to Guillem Balague’s book Messi, the Brazilian called journalist Cristina Cubero after training with the youngster and said, “I’ve just finished training with someone who is going to be better than me.”
The Argentine also considered the importance of accepting defeat, explaining that footballers need to learn how to cope with disappointment because losing is an unavoidable part of the sport.
Reflecting on painful experiences in major competitions, including Argentina’s defeat to Germany in the 2014 World Cup final in Brazil and unsuccessful Champions League campaigns, Messi said players should measure themselves by their effort and commitment rather than by results alone.
“You may or may not achieve your goal, but you have to be satisfied knowing that you gave it your all and that you can feel complete beyond the final result,” he said.
“The most important thing is knowing how to lose. Knowing how to win, too, because there are a lot of people who don’t know how to win.
“But knowing how to lose is fundamental in this sport because you lose far more often than you win.
“You shouldn’t get used to losing, but you do have to understand that you can lose, and you have to accept it.”
Messi’s remarks come as he continues his career with Inter Miami in the United States, having already secured the World Cup with Argentina in Qatar in 2022.
The forward has also had a highly successful international career, ending Argentina’s long wait for a major trophy by winning the 2021 Copa América before guiding the nation to its third World Cup title.
During his Barcelona career, he won four Champions League titles and 10 La Liga championships, as well as numerous individual awards.
