23/02/2016
Can you imagine what would have happened if Ronaldinho wasn’t at Barcelona when Leo Messi came into the first team changing room?
It was widely reported that Messi and Ronaldinho had instant connection and the little Argentinean even acknowledged that: “Ronnie was massively important for me”. Messi explained: “I was so young when I started to come into Barcelona’s dressing room, but he made a point of being first to step up to me and look after me.”
Messi then joined the “Brazilian Clique” at Camp Nou.
He also admitted that he tried to copy Ronaldinho’s style.
“I try to copy little things Ronaldinho does but more fundamentally I just try to play for the joy of it. Playing football has always meant joy for me and that’s why I do it. Of course, it’s easier when you’re winning.”
Messi’s development into the best player in the world was hugely down to Ronaldinho being there in Barcelona and “injecting” into him his unique style and even cultural DNA. Without Brazilian Ronaldinho, Argentinean Messi would have been a completely different player – maybe even in the style of Andres Iniesta or Xavi. Not bad, but not Messi as we know it.
Now Messi is a perfect hybrid of Argentinean skill, Brazilian style and Spanish/Catalan brain.
He is the ultimate example of how “sex between ideas” is a great way to upgrade your club or nation."
The above is an excerpt from a Lionel Messi interview about how he learnt from another grand master Ronaldinho Gaucho..
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