One phone call, VHS tape that changed Argentina and Messi’s destiny

CHENNAI: Lionel Messi almost wore Spain's colours before he became Argentina's greatest footballer.

In ESPN's documentary Messi's World Cup: The Rise of a Legend, former La Masia coach Alex Garcia recalled how Spain realised Messi's potential long before Argentina acted.

“There’s a kid here, an Argentine, but they (Argentina) don’t call him up. Maybe there’s a possibility he might want to play for Spain,” he told Spain’s youth coach, Gines Melendez.

“The strategy ran through his coach and teammates: "You have to convince him, please. You have to convince him." That way we wouldn't offend the Argentine Federation, because [AFA president] Julio Grondona, may he rest in peace, was a close friend of [Royal Spanish Football Federation] president Angel María Villar,” Melendez told ESPN.

Given Messi was in Spain, Garcia thought it was a straightforward decision for the youngster. But his dad, Jorge, had other ideas and a chuckling Melendez said, “I don’t know..... Kidnap him”.

Jorge ensured Messi's agent, Horacio Gaggioli, handed a VHS compilation of his son's highlights to Argentina assistant coach Claudio Vivas, who was visiting Barcelona with Marcelo Bielsa. Initially reluctant to judge a player through a tape, Vivas changed his mind within seconds. Bielsa's reaction after watching it was equally memorable.

"But play it at normal speed, you can't see anything like this." Bielsa said: "Marcelo, it is at normal speed, I just pressed play." Vivas said: "But this kid is unbelievable!"

Eventually Messi’s tape reached Hugo Tocalli, Argentina U-17’s coach. With the Under-17 World Cup just months away, Tocalli had to ignore Messi.

Argentina lost to Spain 2-3 in the semis, and that’s when Spain’s chef humiliated Tocalli with his Messi admission. “You mean you know him, and you didn’t bring him?” The chef was puzzled. Then that tape reached Argentina national team manager, Omar Souto, who then went all-out, searching for Messi’s family on yellow pages.

When he was on the call with Messi’s dad, Jorge, all that the latter had to say was, “Finally”. The rest is Argentine history.