(people cheering)
(inspirational music) (people cheering)
- It's not only about sports.
(inspirational music) (people cheering)
- [Announcer] Messi, Messi, Messi.
- It's not just about amazing ability.
- [Boy] Football is a language in itself.
It surpasses all barriers.
(inspirational music)
When I get a ball at my feet, I feel absolute love.
(inspirational music)
- [Man] When it gets to the pitch,
we're on equal ground.
- Leo was born like this.
- [Announcer] Messi, Messi, Messi.
- [Woman] The goosebumps and the emotions, phenomenal.
- Football can help bring communities together.
(inspirational music) (people cheering)
- [Man] We could become bigger and greater through football.
Football is not a game, it's emotion.
(inspirational music)
It comes from the heart.
(inspirational music)
(soft music)
(bell chiming)
- Barcelona...
I think, is one of the best cities in the world.
It has great weather...
a lot of culture.
It's the cradle of many artists
of geniuses.
Antoni Gaudí.
(soft classical music)
Famous painters...
Dalí. Miró.
The greatest artist now in Barcelona,
without a doubt... is Leo Messi.
(soft classical music)
- Any work of art is an idea that the artist carries inside,
but can only be expressed at the right moment.
(soft classical music)
There is no greater work of art than to see Messi...
train, watch him play.
He is unique in the world.
(soft classical music)
Our players are trying...
to produce a work of art,
but what they are doing now is a sketch.
(soft classical music)
- Barcelona is a great orchestra...
but the tenor is Leo Messi.
Hi Christian, how are you? Good evening.
The atmosphere in the hotel during El Clásico match is different.
For Barcelona, it is the most important game of the year
when you play against your eternal rival, Real Madrid.
It's the most important game
in the Spanish football league,
and one of the most important games in Europe.
It's when the best players in the world come face to face,
and the whole world watches them.
(suspenseful drum music)
- China entered the World Cup when I was in high school.
At that time I noticed Argentina,
and then I noticed Messi.
(people cheering)
- [Announcer] Messi is driving.
He's going to take them all on.
And Messi is through.
No way, no way.
Oh, that's genius. That is quite incredible.
- Since then, I fell in love with Messi.
I am single at the moment,
so every day I call Messi my husband.
(intense music)
- From Gaza that is under the blockade,
I send a message of love
and thanks, because he is always making us happy.
- [Announcer] Here's Messi.
Oh, lovely combination.
And another.
And a finish to match!
- The word 'Messi' means everything...
it means beauty, joy, thrill, excitement.
- Barca, Barca, Barca!
- My favorite Messi moment is the classico in April 2017
that the score was 2-2
and Messi scored the last goal at the last minute.
- [Announcer] It's come to Messi. And Messi has done it again.
He really is superhuman.
- I said, "Whoa."
(dramatic music)
- My favourite goal
was the header he scored in the Champions League Final.
It shows that he can do anything with the ball:
headers, back heels, switch the ball from one flank to another.
He is amazing.
(dramatic drum music)
(fans chanting)
- If I could describe Messi in one word it would be, "killer."
My favorite Messi moment is his Champions League game
in 2015 against Bayern Munich.
He faked out Jerome Boateng,
who at the time was the best defender in the world,
made him fall and then scored on Neuer,
the best goalkeeper in the world.
The thing about that is Messi doesn't do these things
to average players.
He's doing this to the very best players.
(cheering in a foreign language)
(people cheering)
- Who is the most important living Argentine?
I don't even claim to ever compete
with an idol.
Just like how, for me, it's difficult to imagine,
that anyone else could do what Messi does any given Sunday.
- [Fans] Messi, Messi, Messi!
- This work of art that Leo Messi's doing every game
is something that will remain forever.
This is his legacy.
He creates this emotion in all the games.
- [Announcer] Around 90,000 fans gathered here.
(inspirational music)
(people cheering)
From Mexico!
- This is a fact proved over 10 seasons.
Ronaldo, he is a once in a generation player.
You can expect that his goal tallies
to be once in every generation.
Messi on the other hand, his goal tally
was equivalent to a once in a lifetime event.
So every 74 years, the average life expectancy in Argentina,
every 74 years you'll expect another Messi to come along.
(inspirational drum music) (people cheering)
- [Announcer] Madrid kickoff.
(people cheering loudly)
(announcer speaks foreign language)
Messi moves in applying pressure.
(announcer speaks foreign language)
- He's watching now... he's walking...
he's walking about... that is what I like the most.
He's not out of the game, he's involved...
Moving his head... right, left... left, right.
He knows exactly what's going to happen.
But his head is always like this...
He's always moving.
He's not running, but he's always watching what happens.
He smells who are the weak points in the back four.
(announcer speaks foreign language)
After five, ten minutes...
he has the map.
In his eyes and in his brain...
to know exactly what is the space and what is the panorama.
It's like being in the jungle and I have to survive.
(announcer speaks foreign language)
And he knows if he moves here... here... he will have more space...
to attack.
(announcer speaks foreign language)
- [Announcer] Oh, great vision from Messi.
(fans cheering)
(announcer speaking foreign language)
Here comes the corner.
And looking for Pique.
It's Moran who gets it away.
And this is Iniesta.
(soft music) (fans cheering)
- Every study of Leo
shows he runs the least...
he sprints the least...
he participates the least in the game.
You don't have to worry
about being tall or short.
Worry instead about being
the most efficient.
And that's very difficult.
Leo's game is maximum efficiency.
It may appear as if he's not trying to win back the ball,
but his mere presence
forces the ball to go elsewhere.
(people cheering)
It's only when he sees a possible solution that he moves and receives the ball.
- [Announcer] Ball at Messi's feet.
(people cheering)
(announcer speaks foreign language)
- [Announcer] Messi makes a run.
Ball falls to Suarez.
Suarez!
(fans cheering loudly)
(announcer speaks foreign language)
- [Announcer] The champions take the lead.
- Now, what did Leo do?
Let's rewind.
He makes just the right move to draw in his opponents...
he runs ahead of the two centre-backs...
to steer them towards the near post.
The two defenders go with him...
and Luis appears alone, behind, unmarked.
- [Announcer] Goal!
(announcer speaking foreign language)
- And this is Leo's big lesson...
everything he does, he does for the team.
(soft music)
(announcer speaking foreign language)
- We see maths in everything.
We see maths in art,
we see it in the description of music,
and of course we can use the same ideas
to describe Lionel Messi.
(people cheering)
(suspenseful music)
Myself and my colleagues at Uppsala University,
what we've been trying to assess
using millions and millions of ball touches
is what makes Messi a genius.
What we want to look at when we break down Lionel Messi
is the geometry that he creates on the pitch.
He's creating art on the football pitch
and he's also creating these mathematical structures.
(soft music)
What Messi does, which no other player does,
not even Ronaldo, is break down the space
the opposition are trying to control.
This is one of his classic goals against Bilbao.
(people cheering)
- [Announcer] Messi. He's trapped at the moment.
Going the long way around now.
Doesn't seem to be anywhere to go,
or there didn't seem to be.
- He's in this situation where there's three defenders
all moving in this direction.
Messi is also moving towards the goal
and the way to do that is to stop and take a step inwards.
Suddenly he's moved into a different position
where each of the players that surround him
are maximally distant from him.
(people cheering)
Simple mathematical calculation.
The greater distance you have from your opposition,
the more space and the more time you have.
They're all confused.
In the end he manages to do a nutmeg
and go past all three of them.
- [Announcer] They are under his spell.
- [David] And on towards the goal.
- [Announcer] Messi has the Camp Nou on its feet once again.
Try and stop him with two players, with three,
it simply doesn't matter.
Lionel Messi is a genius.
- There are mathematicians working in all of the clubs
trying to understand the geometry of Messi
and to try and think about ways of defending against him.
But it's all about how quickly the players
can think about these things on the pitch.
I can stand here and explain
all of the theory of Messi to you
but what I can't do is go out and tackle him.
(people cheering)
- [Announcer] Messi on the side and through on goal.
Ah, what a finish.
- [David] In 2012, Messi scored 91 goals.
(people cheering) (soft music)
- [Announcer] Messi on the ball.
Oh, wow!
Messi, lining up the shot.
(fans cheering loudly)
All Ferdinand could do is stand and admire.
- Wow.
(audience laughing)
That's what happened most of the game.
I'm chasing him. Look.
(audience laughing)
This is possibly one of the most embarrassing nights
of my life in Champions League final.
The thing about him is that he doesn't even come near you.
So you actually, me and Vidic
stood on the halfway line once at Wembley
and looked at each other and we just went...
And we were losing and we were standing there
thinking I've not even touched anyone.
I've not even got anywhere. If you're a defender in a game,
you want to get near people or at least get the ball.
We didn't have the ball,
and I didn't get to put my hands on no one
to rough an opponent or anything like that.
And you just feel like I'm just out here
but I'm not out here, doing nothing.
And the problem is when you did get close to him
he was that small and quick he was going underneath.
(audience laughing)
I was like, I was trying. - Slipping through.
- Normally you go out and hit someone in the chest,
and he was just going underneath it,
and I was thinking this guy is a magician.
(people cheering)
- [Announcer] What some may try, Lionel Messi just does.
He is simply one of a kind.
(people cheering)
- People expect when you talk about Messi
that it's about the goals that you are watching.
(people cheering) (soft music)
But the most important thing
about Messi is his correct control.
His pass is always perfect.
- [Announcer] Here's Messi.
Oh, that's a perfectly executed pass.
Messi... gets it in behind the defense.
- It's about understanding the game.
When in every situation he takes the right decision in the right moment.
- [Announcer] Here's Messi.
Oh, that's a superb ball.
- And every time his decision is correct.
(soft dramatic music)
(people cheering)
(announcer speaks foreign language)
- This kind of pass, there are many people in the world who can do it.
But he can do it more often than the other ones.
(announcer speaks foreign language)
You can say that a pianist
don't touch the piano with his hands,
he touch with all his body, so he's the same.
(tango violin music)
- Messi is like tango;
he is spontaneous...
he is creative, he improvises...
and creates something new.
(tango violin music) (people cheering)
When I see him play,
it's as if he's dancing with the ball.
(tango violin music)
Through the movement of the feet,
a football player connects with his body.
(tango violin music continues)
The player uses the movement of the whole body to play the game.
(music continues)
His hands... his back... torso... chest...
I think he is a player who has used his gift
to turn the game into an artform.
(fans cheering)
(announcer speaks foreign language)
- When Messi has the ball,
something always happens.
He is the player with the most goal assists in the Spanish league.
And also the player who has scored the most goals.
He is unique in the world.
(fans cheering and clapping)
- [Announcer] Jordi Alba.
Lionel Messi the play. The shoot did go over the top.
Brilliant defending.
(soft piano music) (rain pouring)
- My first memory was watching him play a game of what we call "short matches".
I was coaching the Barça B team...
and he was playing on an adjacent pitch.
I could see this one player who was always on the ball,
always receiving the ball, scoring constantly.
I felt immediately that here was someone different from all the rest.
- It was around end of 2004
and one of our technical directors told us one day
we have a special player.
He was at that time, probably he was 15 years old.
He was not the tallest, not the strongest player
but he was so talented.
Of course at that time, in 2004,
nobody could imagine that he will be the future,
the best player of the history of the football.
- A player who read the game differently,
much faster mentally.
He was the best in every stage of his evolution.
The best at 15...
the best at 16.
The best in Barça B.
(soft piano music) (people cheering)
- I hear about him when he was in the Academy...
there is one guy who is so good.
Immediately when we arrived, they said, "You have to try and organise the team...
like... in a way that he can have
more influence on the way we want to play."
- He came to the club that we have a way of playing
that suits perfectly his way of thinking about football
and his physical and technical conditions.
- Pep is the great teacher
with innovative ideas.
What Pep was looking for apart from a goal scorer
was above all someone who would unnerve the opposing team.
- At the end Messi, what does he enjoy the most?
To play with the ball.
Barcelona try to play as much as possible in 90 minutes with the ball...
and when this happens, he is happy.
(soft piano music)
- I think Guardiola did something very interesting,
introducing a way of playing
with Leo Messi being the center.
The first two, three games was not so good,
but of course he continued this kind of system,
and that year it was clear that was the right way.
- [Announcer] He got the ball in a dangerous position.
Messi has space and time.
That's all he needs.
Goal for Barcelona.
- [Josep] If I have to remember one game,
was that classico in Bernabéu Estadio against Real Madrid
where Barca won 2-6.
- [Announcer] Messi. Xavi swivels, spots Messi.
He's in on goal against the keeper.
And beats him.
- [Josep] That was the proof.
- [Announcer] Pure joy for Barcelona.
To Messi, he shoots.
It's a rocket into the top corner!
Effortless for Messi.
Messi! (people cheering)
- I ask myself what was my influence in that situation...
absolutely zero.
So what is the influence? Nothing.
- [Announcer] Messi.
Still Messi.
Oh, magnificent!
- I was there for only 4 years,
so that was a short time in his life.
- [Announcer] Messi now, past two, three, four.
They can't get near him.
Just look at that! Incredible stuff.
- It's maybe Dad and Mum,
Messi's Dad and Mum can explain better
what they did to create this person.
(people cheering)
(soft music) (dog barking)
- These are the streets of the neighbourhood
where we grew up with Leo.
We've known each other all our lives,
we've built a very big friendship.
Yes, the neighbourhood was very important
for Leo as he grew up,
because, his experiences, his humility...
everything he is, it's this neighbourhood.
And this is Leo's house,
where we have shared lots of snacks,
lots of games...
Where we have used the garage door as a goal.
(intense music) (people cheering)
And here in the 'potrero,'
we would play football.
- It was really our grandparents who invented the 'potreros'.
They are green spaces where a ball appears
and all of the kids of the neighbourhood meet up.
We'd play for five, six, seven or eight hours,
until our parents called us in for dinner,
until the sun went down.
This gave one the opportunity to explore
and to invent without pressure.
- Here in Rosario, football is very tough, very competitive.
There are two important clubs that divide the city in two...
the red and blacks.
Newell's Old Boys,
and then the other team,
Rosario Central.
(soft music)
And every clásico is lived with great passion.
(fans chanting loudly)
- The words say
that they are the hard guys, and the others are cowards.
(fans chanting loudly)
In the lower section with 6,000 people,
more or less half of them are the real fanatics
known as the "Hooligans".
Many have criminal records.
It's a very dangerous place.
(fans chanting loudly)
The majority, 70%, are from the south west of the city.
Lionel Messi is identified with the southern zone.
His heart belongs to this club.
(soft music)
- If you run a race alone,
you don't know if you're making good time.
But if you have someone in front of you, you try to catch up with him.
(soft music)
Rosario is football.
365 days a year,
seven days of the week.
60 or 70 players have passed through here
who have played in the Argentine national team.
Maxi Rodríguez, Lucas Bernardi,
Balbo, Batistuta, Sensini,
Samuel, Pochettino, Berizzo,
Sergio Almirón, Valdano.
The little football school was an initiative of the parents.
The coaches were the Dads.
They weren't proper coaches, they were Dads.
We prepared them on three levels,
technically, physically, psychologically.
Leo started playing when he was 4 or 5 years old.
He never said no to anything.
If I said "run", he'd run. If I gave him an exercise, he did it.
All I had to do was encourage and support him.
No coach can claim they 'taught' Leo something.
Leo was born with that inside him,
just like
Van Gogh, Michelangelo,
and all the great artists.
When I had him,
we didn't lose a single game.
Leo was brave, he played with the big guys...
but we knew he had a problem.
Leo was going to be very small with very fragile bones.
Leo needed a long and sustained medical treatment,
and the club could not afford it.
The father searched elsewhere and found
the possibility of paying for it in Barcelona.
(dramatic music)
- I remember him leaving in his grandfather's car,
and all the little kids running after him.
The little kids were running behind him yelling "Bye, Leo! Bye, Leo!"
(melancholic piano music)
It was very sad but, at the same time, very happy.
(melancholic piano music)
- I get emotional when I have to talk of Leo...
leaving Rosario, leaving his neighbourhood,
his school, his friends, his team,
to a city thousands of miles away.
Leo left everything and he went at 12 years old.
He bet everything on his health, his dream.
(soft music)
(people cheering)
- [Announcer] Back for the second half
of another fascinating clash
between Barcelona and Real Madrid in the Camp Nou.
(people cheering)
(whistle blowing)
(people cheering)
(drums beating rhythmically)
(seagulls calling)
- The first game I fell in love with Messi,
was probably against the team I support, Arsenal.
He scored 4 goals in the whole game,
you couldn't stop him, it was ridiculous.
You just had to stand up
and applaude him, it was amazing.
(people cheering)
He doesn't really look like a footballer.
He's short in stature,
and it never really held him back.
I think it's been an advantage to him,
the low center of gravity that he has
makes him difficult to knock off the ball.
(people chanting loudly)
- [Announcer] "Champions, champions,"
sing the Barcelona people.
(people chanting loudly)
(people cheering)
- Time is what defines our lives.
We are not defined by the space in which we are in,
but the time we spend... in that space doing something.
Because in life a hundreth of a second, a tenth of a second
does not matter much, but in football,
it can mean a goal, can mean a victory.
(people cheering)
What makes him different from all other players
is the time in which he does things.
(people cheering)
When you go running...
there is a time that you are in the air...
and while you are in the air, you cannot change direction.
And he always has his feet very close to the ground.
Leo is capable of two changes of speed,
and when you're here, he's there, and when you turn,
he's gone the other way.
(people cheering)
- [Announcer] Suarez...
has managed to get a little bit of clear air.
And now it's Lionel Messi.
Messi past Casemiro!
And he scores! (people screaming)
That is Lionel Messi.
And when it is Lionel Messi it is always, always special.
The greatest player the game has ever known.
2-1 Barcelona.
- You'll see it now in slow motion...
look at how many times he puts his foot down before shooting.
One..
two...
three... and he shoots.
And the defender has touched the ground once...
in the same passage of time.
This is the principle of absolute relativity.
It's Einstein.
(announcer speaks foreign language)
If we repeat it again... you'll see.
He draws one player in at one speed,
another one at a different speed...
and a third at another speed.
He can visualise the space where they won't converge.
And at that precise point he shoots.
- [Announcer] Goal!
(announcer speaks foreign language)
(people cheering)
(inspirational music)
(people cheering)
- The last goal he scored
against Real Madrid.
I've seen it now four or five times.
(people cheering)
At what point does he see the goalpost?
But he waits to see it first...
he doesn't shoot at the crowd of defenders,
he only pulls the trigger when he has a clean shot.
He completes a geometrical pattern
in his head, he has all of the diagonals,
the exact point from which to shoot on goal.
It's a really incredible thing.
(people cheering)
You know the sense I have... I understood it the other day
that he sees the other players as if in slow motion.
He always has a second to spare.
(soft imposing music)
- You can really think of Messi as warping space
with his temporal movements.
He uses his time to change the shape on the pitch.
(soft imposing music)
His fast movements can actually manipulate space
and create new areas for him to move into.
Most people can't think in more than four dimensions.
(people cheering)
Messi can think in a few more dimensions
than any other player can.
(inspirational music) (people cheering)
22 times two, 44 plus the spacial dimensions.
48 dimensions.
(inspirational music) (people cheering)
He's thinking slightly faster than the others.
(announcer speaks foreign language)
- [Announcer] Messi, in on goal.
(people cheering)
Pass to Ramos.
- Everything that Messi does, he does with his brain.
We tend to think that it's all in the muscles,
but the muscles are controlled up here.
We are our brains.
(people yelling)
Human intelligence is very complex,
it's more than just IQ.
Clearly, he's very intelligent,
but perhaps in a sphere that's different
from what's required to get into a prestigious university.
(people cheering)
Top sportsmen like Messi
can predict what's going to happen
in a way superior to the rest.
As Guardiola says, if you press the pause button
when you watch him play,
and you look at the options before him...
Messi always makes the right decision.
(people shouting)
This decision-making isn't totally rational.
It's imprinted in his body, his experience and natural talent.
(people cheering)
Genius is one thing and the context something else.
Context is very important in the creative process.
Maybe in another context, Messi would not have been Messi,
however much talent and discipline.
- [Announcer] Home fans shouting for the referee
to blow his whistle, just seconds left.
- Like the Florence of the Renaissance,
Barça knew how to adapt to Messi.
(people cheering) (whistle blowing)
So if he doesn't perform for Argentina as he does Barcelona,
it says more about Argentina than Messi.
- If Argentina don't win the World Cup,
this generation of footballers
led by Messi, has failed.
- Is that what is being said
or what we think?
- I don't like the idea that because we don't win the World Cup, Messi is a failure.
- Until now we are just talking about Messi, Messi, Messi.
Is there a team to lead? Does Argentina have a team to lead?
That's the question.
In this country there has been a debate about Messi since Messi was Messi,
since Messi appeared.
The first time was at the 2006 World Cup...
- [Announcer] Here comes the great youtful hope Messi.
Oh, Messi!
-...and the photo of Messi on the bench
when Germany knocked out Argentina.
Thanks to the way Messi played in the first phase,
and his brilliance,
Argentina got to the final in Brazil 2014 thanks to Messi's ability.
- [Announcer] In to Messi.
And still Messi.
Goal!
Messi goes for goal and hits the target.
...the upright, he's off the keeper
and it's in off the rebound.
- Then the debate wasn't why Messi doesn't play
for Argentina like he does for Barcelona,
but why Messi doesn't win the finals
or why he doesn't, as they say,
take us to paradise?
- Messi! Off the target.
(people cheering and clapping)
- We are all managers.
We all have opinions, we all know better.
- [Announcer] Mbappe, he's on to it.
Oh, he's pulled back.
It is a penalty, it's been given.
Griezmann, first blood to France.
- It's really hard to win a World Cup.
It's very difficult.
Not only do you need to have one of the top four teams,
you need luck on your side.
- [Announcer] Pavard! Oh, what about that!
- So there's an element of luck. Luck is linked to players confidence, no?
It's like magic.
- [Announcer] Matuidi's in there. Mbappe too!
- Nobody likes to lose.
- [Announcer] And it's 3-2!
- In Argentina our self-esteem is linked to football,
stopping us from enjoying the game.
- [Announcer] Messi out of the World Cup, and so too are Argentina.
- We have to learn to value
Messi and be thankful.
It's a joy that he is an Argentine.
("Blue Danube Waltz" playing)
It's like a gift from God.
("Blue Danube Waltz" continues)
- I've had moments when Barcelona has had a really good run,
suddenly there'd be a game where they'd play badly and lose,
and that had its purpose,
to come back down from the clouds, back to reality.
("Blue Danube Waltz" continues)
Einstein was Einstein.
And I'm sure that before he came out with the theory of relativity,
he made many mistakes, many times...
Messi goes through the same.
He's a genius, of course, he's a genius...
but he's not perfect, because nobody is perfect.
("Blue Danube Waltz" continues)
(people chanting)
(people cheering loudly)
- So many people in the world play football but,
he does things that no other player can do.
It's not about the goals, yes he scores 50 goals
in five consecutive seasons, that's impossible but...
It's the goals, it's the passes,
free kicks, everything.
And that's what makes him a genius.
("Blue Danube Waltz" continues)
- When you go to the theatre, go to the cinema, go to a concert,
what you want is something in the skin,
and he produces it, many, many, times.
(people cheering)
("Blue Danube Waltz" continues)
- Everyone can have their opinion about
what players they like, but
if you like football,
I think if you watch Leo Messi,
you're happy.
It makes me happy when I watch him play.
("Blue Danube Waltz" continues)
- When I watch him, it's quite a similar feeling
I had when I'd watch Michael Jordan.
("Blue Danube Waltz" continues)
- I had the feeling that I don't want to miss
for one second.
Now I have the same feeling, so when I speak with my son,
I say, "Don't miss that, because when he retires,"
"we're going to miss him."
("Blue Danube Waltz" continues) (people cheering)
- [Announcer] What a delicious finish
under pressure from the defender.
("Blue Danube Waltz" continues) (people cheering)
If football is an art form, he is its Picasso.
- We are contemporary of that guy, so enjoy it.
- [Fans] Messi! Messi! Messi! Messi! Messi!
("Blue Danube Waltz" continues) (people cheering)
("Blue Danube Waltz" ends)
(dramatic music)