Lionel Messi reveals who inspired him while growing up

Lionel Messi has been repeatedly likened to Argentina legend Diego Maradona

The contemporary wizard of football, Lionel Messi has revealed recently that it was Diego Armando Maradona, commonly known as ‘El Pelusa’ or ‘The Fluff’, who served as his inspiration to become the living legend that he is now.

Messi, who continues to mesmerize the world day in and day out with his skills has never earlier been quite vocal about who inspired him to follow his dreams and become the player that he is now.

Nicknamed ‘La Pulga’ (The Flea), for his nimble movements on the pitch, Messi recently acknowledged Maradona as his great inspiration when he was growing up. He said that he comes from a generation that idolized Maradona. Here is what Messi had to say,

"When I was growing up, Maradona had just returned to Argentina after a spell with Sevilla. He returned to Newell's (his boyhood club) in 1993, and he was able to take Argentina to another World Cup after a playoff. I can say without a doubt that, if someone inspired me to become a footballer, it was him.”

Maradona’s heroics

Messi was born in the year 1987. Just a year prior to that Maradona led his national side to World Cup glory. They played against West Germany and Argentina won 3-2 but Maradona was not one of the scorers.

However, in the quarter-final of the same tournament, Maradona scored both the goals in Argentina’s 2-1 victory over England, with both strikes creating history. One of them is known as ‘The Hand of God’ an unpunished handling of the ball into the net by Maradona. The other one has been voted the Goal of the Century, where Maradona covered 66 yards dribbling past five English defenders and scoring the goal.

Messi was an ardent follower of Maradona’s game and his inspiration is manifest in his style of play. In fact Messi has scored some goals which are nearly identical to those netted by Maradona.

On football as matter of everyday life

Messi who plays as number 10 for his national team, La Abiceleste, quite frankly mentioned that for him football is not an all-consuming aspect of his life and that whatever he has shown on the pitch comes naturally to him. On this note Messi said,

"Football's not everything in my life. I dream like everybody else, I play when I have to do it, and I don't need to talk about it when I'm off the pitch. I'm not always aware of what happens when I'm not on the pitch.”

Messi is presently injured and is unsure if he will be able to play for Barcelona in the Club World Cup final as he is supposed to undergo a surgery to remove kidney stones. Messi was not part of the team for the Semi-Final against Guangzhou Evergrande which Barcelona won 3-0.