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Lionel Messi, currently under contract with Inter Miami, assured that, when he sees the number 10, he thinks of Diego Armando Maradona. He emphasized during a conversation he had with the French Zinedine Zidane, in Miami, published this Thursday by Adidas, that “everyone wanted to be like him, even though none of them became like him. Maradona was the player we admired.
I followed Diego a bit, when he went to Newell’s in his final stage, I was six or seven years old and I don’t remember, like the 1994 World Cup. I was a kid, I don’t remember much. Then I watched some videos. He is our reference, our idol. For us, Diego is something very strong that will continue to be there for many more years, I have no doubt. My children know about Diego without ever seeing him, but with videos from what we have,” he added.
Messi stated that he had a lot of respect for his compatriots Pablo Aimar and Juan Román Riquelme and said that 10 is a lost position in modern football.
“A lot is lost now. With 4-3-3 or 4-2-2, it is true that there are few left. Our number 10, which characterized the Argentine number 10, Riquelme, Aimar, are few or none. 10 doesn’t fit into those systems or it’s hard to fit in, the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner said.
Messi also admitted that when he was at Paris Saint Germain he suffered from not wearing the number 10 shirt. In France, when Neymar wore that number, the Argentinian chose number 30.
“When I was in Paris, I didn’t have the number 10. I was used to wearing it, although I didn’t care and nothing happened, I really missed not having it. Then I got used to it, he said.
In a very relaxed conversation, Zidane and Messi exchanged hearty praise.
“I admire you a lot, we didn’t have the luck to play together, we faced each other a bit. I always respect and admire what you did and continue to do,” said Messi.
“For me he is one of the greatest in history, I have always admired him, I followed him a lot in Madrid”.
“He was always a different player: elegant, tall, magical, he had everything. I remember the goal against Leverkusen, the World Cup goals…”.
The Argentine also admitted that scoring goals in a World Cup “is always more special, because of what it means”, compared to scoring in the Champions League.
