Lionel Messi became a legend at just 9: Adults would stay at training to watch him

Eight-time Ballon d'Or winner and world champion Lionel Messi began his path to greatness long before the Barcelona academy. The Argentine forward had already become a true legend on the streets of his hometown, Rosario, and within the Newell's Old Boys system while still a child. His talent was so immense that even professional players from the first team would skip their plans and rest time just to watch the "little magician" play. This is reported by Goal.com reports.

Former Newell's Old Boys player Matias Fondato recalled those days in an interview with talkSPORT. According to him, despite Messi being only nine years old, the entire club was amazed by his skills. Fondato noted that when he had just joined the first team, all the experienced players would stay at the stadium after training to watch young Messi play before showering and heading to the hotel.

“The Machine of '87” and comparisons to Maradona

The youth team Lionel Messi played for at the time was known as "The Machine of '87." This team went undefeated for three consecutive years, crushing all their opponents. Matias Fondato says that Lionel's movements on the pitch were just as astonishing then as they are now; the only difference was his physical size.

“He was very small, but he played on the pitch with the intelligence of an adult against his peers. It was hard to say exactly who he would become in the future, but even at that age, he was completely different from any other child we had seen,” says Fondato. It was during those times that local fans began comparing him to the legendary Diego Maradona.

Interestingly, Lionel Messi watched Diego Maradona's debut for Newell's Old Boys live at the stadium in 1993. Shortly after, nine-year-old Messi would perform tricks with the ball for fans during halftime at the Estadio Marcelo Bielsa, with the entire stadium chanting his name.

Historical legacy and the present day

Although Messi never played an official match for Newell's Old Boys at the professional level, his impact in Argentina remains eternal. He moved to Spain and managed to rewrite the history of world football. Even today, his teammates, including Barcelona and Spain star Pedri, call Messi's continued high level of performance "unbelievable."

For Matias Fondato, this story that began on the streets of Rosario reached its logical conclusion on the pitches of Qatar in 2022. In his opinion, Messi winning the World Cup was the final and most important piece of the great puzzle started by that nine-year-old "little magician." Today, Lionel Messi continues to amaze millions of fans with his long-standing career.