Leo and Zizou have left great definitions of current and past football, of their idols and the mutual admiration they have for each other.
Lionel Messi and Zinedine Zidane met at a meeting organized by the sportswear brand that dresses them both, and the result was a historic football conversation between two of history’s greatest players.
In the conversation, both revealed the mutual admiration they feel for each other, talked about their childhood idols, talked about the importance of the number 10 shirt and thought about Diego Armando Maradona.
Next one, GOAL repeat the main sentences of the dialogue
What Maradona means
Messi: “For Argentinians, 10 is a very special number because you talk about ten and Maradona automatically comes to mind. All your life, those of us who grew up playing football as kids we wanted to be like him. Although no one arrived later, “The wish was always that, to try to copy what Maradona did.”
“Diego was the player we admired, who we saw through the ages, because I saw little of him. When he went to Newell’s, which was already in its final stages, he was six or seven years old, and I don’t know Remember, same as the 1994 World Cup, which was small and I don’t remember much about it. Of course I watched videos and with everything Diego means to us, he is our reference, our biggest idol.”
“For us, Diego is something very strong, that will continue for many years to come, I have no doubt about that. It goes from generation to generation. my children know about Diego without ever having seen him, through videos and what we tell you. For us, his figure is very important for everything he represented Argentina, and what he was worldwide.”
The number 10 shirt
Zidane: “When we were little we all wanted the number 10. He was the leader of the team”
Messi: “The number 10 was a different player. We all wanted to be a different player even if we weren’t. We all wanted to have the number 10 since we were little, today I don’t know if that’s the case. Back in the day it was a position that reflected that he was the playmaker, the hook, now there are many teams that play 4-3-3 and are more inside the 10, or they do not fit into the linear 4-4-2. It is true that there are still there are few Ten, those characteristic players like Riquelme or Aimar. Or maybe there isn’t one yet. Football has changed a lot. The way of playing has changed, the systems have changed.. As children they start playing 4-3-3 or with a line of three or five defenders. The number 10 does not enter those systems or is difficult to enter.”
Francescoli and Aimar, children’s idols
Zidane: “Francescoli played for Marseille, I was 13 years old and I wanted to be him. He was very elegant, he handled the ball and I said ‘you don’t see much like that’. He was a magician.”
Messi: “I was a kid, but I saw Enzo in River’s time, when they had a great team, they won everything. Today he continues to work at the club. I was fortunate to know him and he was a wonderful person. Even though I was a boy, I remember River being crazy
I liked Aimar, I always said that. I liked his way of playing, I followed him in a River where there was also a great team. Bring Diego, what’s best for us, Pablo was a person I greatly admired.”
The game Messi would like to play again
Messi: “I don’t regret anything along the way and the journey I had to make. I was lucky to have a lot of joy, also sadness for not achieving my goals, but if it happened that way, it was because it had to be that way. ” way. But maybe the thorn in the 2014 World Cup final, even though I was able to pull it a bit with this World Cup, remains there…”
The best match of Zidane’s career
Zidane: “It’s hard to pick one, but when I was at Juve we played a Champions League semi-final against Ajax, we won 4-1 in Turin and in the rematch that was also the match. There are many people who don’t remember…”
The most important goal of Leo’s career
Messi: “I think scoring a goal in the World Cup final is the best… We can both say it.”
The toughest rival Zidane faced
Zidane: “Not the toughest, the most difficult, in the sense that he was very good and it’s not that he wanted to hit you: Paolo Maldini. He was very intelligent on the field. And the other one, Thuram. Thuram was really tough, ha”
Messi: “I played against Thuram. He was strong, wasn’t he…”
Source: Goal
Gregory Robert is a sports aficionado and a writer for “Social Bites”. He provides in-depth coverage of the latest sporting events and trends, offering a unique and knowledgeable perspective on the world of sports.