{"id":593132,"date":"2026-07-19T07:05:18","date_gmt":"2026-07-19T07:05:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/593132\/"},"modified":"2026-07-19T07:05:18","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T07:05:18","slug":"the-lionel-messi-i-know-by-one-of-his-closest-childhood-friends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/593132\/","title":{"rendered":"The Lionel Messi I know, by one of his closest childhood friends"},"content":{"rendered":"

Leandro Benitez was a childhood friend of Lionel Messi and played alongside the Argentina star in the youth ranks of Newell\u2019s Old Boys, the Rosario-based club where Messi started. Benitez, 39, was a left-back who went on to join other teams in Argentina, such as Lanus and Chacarita Juniors. <\/p>\n

He previously worked in the Newell\u2019s academy and is now head coach of Rosario youth side ADIUR.<\/p>\n

I met Leo when I was eight years old at Newell\u2019s Old Boys\u2019 youth academy. There were different teams \u2014 A, B, C and D \u2014 and Leo was in a great team, the best of all. I was in the C team, so we met when playing against each other until we moved up to full-size pitches at 11 years old. We started to be team-mates and we became great friends.<\/p>\n

My first impression of him was that he was different, like now. Imagine: now he\u2019s still short, but he\u2019s tougher, better physically. He\u2019s improved 100 per cent in those aspects. But here in Argentina, with so many \u2018potreros\u2019 or makeshift pitches, you could see he was very small at that time \u2014 everyone said: \u201cThis guy\u2019s not going to do anything, don\u2019t worry.\u201d The last thing he looked like was a player who would sweep all before him, an extraterrestrial like he is now.<\/p>\n

But when he went onto the pitch, he showed everyone up. His shirt was gigantic. The bigger lads tried to kick him from all sides \u2014 they couldn\u2019t grab hold of him. We all knew what he would go on to do, but not to the level of becoming the best in history.<\/p>\n

I knew he was different from the first time I saw him play. He had that gift which he was born with and which he perfected. That\u2019s why he\u2019s so thankful to God, because he was born in a humble neighbourhood. I know his family and his entourage very well, and they were always working people. He deserves everything he has experienced.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Lionel Messi and Leandro Benitez, bottom row, second from the right and furthest right (Leandro Benitez)<\/p>\n

When we moved up to that 11-a-side pitch, we became great friends, along with Lucas Scaglia, the cousin of Messi\u2019s wife Antonella, who also played football.<\/p>\n

Every day, we went to play at Lucas\u2019 house. Lucas was the one who had all the games: a football pitch, a ping-pong table, and another house where we could play football tennis, and we could jump in the pool. We also spent moments with Antonela there as they went there every Sunday and ate as a family, so we gathered together.<\/p>\n

Leo was very introverted and very shy, but incredibly lively. He was always inventing things for us to do so that we could get up to some mischief as kids.<\/p>\n

We went to play a tournament in a town near Casilda, west of Rosario, and we all went to stay in a guest house. We played a lot of truco \u2014 a card game. We were 12 years old and we really wanted a Coca-Cola. We didn\u2019t have the money for it, so we thought about what we could do to afford it. Leo had the idea of asking for money in the street. We all went out barefoot \u2014 10, 11 boys like that \u2014 and it was raining that day. And this little skinny guy made more than any of us. They gave us coins, and notes to him.<\/p>\n

Today I remember these things and I see the heights he\u2019s reached and it makes me really emotional.<\/p>\n

One time at Lucas\u2019 house, we stayed up late talking. He told me he wanted to get to Primera, the top division, for his grandmother and to help his family. The dream for all three of us, always, was to play in the first division.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Lionel Messi, second left on bottom row, with Lucas Scaglia, centre, his cousin and Messi\u2019s wife Antonela Roccuzzo to his right, and Leandro Benitez bottom-right (Leandro Benitez)<\/p>\n

He always made the difference on small-sided pitches \u2014 he scored seven, eight, nine goals at a time. At 11, we travelled to Peru for a tournament. He would start doing keepy-uppies and everyone would come closer to see. He would do 200 or 300 keepy-uppies for 10 minutes. In the final, we won against Cantolao, a Peruvian side, 8 or 9-0, and he scored seven or eight goals. We knew we had an ace up our sleeves.<\/p>\n

Leo had that magic where, wherever he went, his aura \u2014 as people say now \u2014 was contagious, his energy, the way he demonstrated it. He wasn\u2019t a boy who spoke a lot. But he always showed what he was about playing with the ball.<\/p>\n

One day, he told us he was going to Barcelona for trials because he was having problems with Newell\u2019s when it came to his growth hormone treatment. At the time, the club weren\u2019t able to afford it and he needed it a lot.<\/p>\n

Whenever we went to tournaments or to Lucas\u2019 house, he always took his little case, which went in the freezer, and he would give himself his injections<\/a>. He\u2019d inject himself in one leg, take it out and inject himself in the other. When you know him and you know he went through difficult things \u2014 because it was really tough to see him injecting himself \u2014 it fills you with even more pride at what he\u2019s achieved.<\/p>\n

I remember him leaving like it was yesterday.<\/p>\n

He came on a weekday. We had more or less spoken about it, but we didn\u2019t know when he was going. He knocked on my door, he came with his agent and he said, \u201cMate, I\u2019m coming to say bye to you because I\u2019m going to Barcelona\u201d. It was as if I were in shock. I didn\u2019t grasp the full extent of it and the first thing I thought was to go to our washing machine \u2014 my mum hadn\u2019t put it on yet \u2014 and get the Newell\u2019s shirt we\u2019d played in that weekend. I said, \u201cTake it, it\u2019s a present\u201d. And he gave me a big hug.<\/p>\n

We spoke via internet, on MSN Messenger. We did that at Lucas\u2019 house, because he was the only one who had a computer. We saw him again at 15 or 16 years old. He\u2019d had a growth spurt; now he had different legs, he had different shoulders.<\/p>\n

In 2005, he played in an Under-20 South American Championship game against Brazil. We spoke to him on the internet before that match and said, \u201cLeo, if you score a goal, put three fingers on your heart (to symbolise the three friends) and run off.\u201d Leo said, \u201cI\u2019m going to score a goal and I\u2019m going to celebrate like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

He scored the goal to make it 2-1, and when he put his three fingers on his heart and started running off, Lucas and I looked at each other \u2014 we were watching in his room \u2014 hugged each other and cried. We couldn\u2019t believe we were experiencing that \u2014 we lived all his emotions.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

He returned to Rosario to see Lucas and I play. I travelled twice to visit him in Barcelona.<\/p>\n

One day, we were eating in his house and I said, \u201cLeo, I want to show you a video that came out great on YouTube, a compilation of yours.\u201d It was just us two eating milanesas with mashed potato. I asked him, \u201cDo you remember this, Leo? Do you remember this move? What about this one?\u201d And he looked at me and did this (shrugs and looks bemused). He said, \u201cSome yes, some no.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd what do you think about this?\u201d He said, \u201cWhat do I know? Nothing.\u201d As if he were a little bit unaware of what he was doing.<\/p>\n

That lack of awareness is brilliant, because when you step foot on the pitch, you need to be a bit unaware. If you think about everything you\u2019re doing with so many people around you, it scares you and you do nothing. It paralyses you. That lack of awareness, for me, is where what he does comes from.<\/p>\n

At first, the criticism he received in Argentina before the international trophies he won angered me a lot. I had lots of arguments but then I understood the game, too \u2014 that I had to be a bit calmer about who those words were coming from, because here in Argentina everyone knows about football.<\/p>\n

He started to do what the people wanted and what he knew was missing. In this case, it was the comparison with Diego Maradona \u2014 everyone said Maradona spoke out on the pitch, he was in charge. He understood that and said, \u201cYou want me to speak out? I\u2019m going to speak out. And besides, I\u2019m going to play well.\u201d He didn\u2019t even like losing a game of truco. And if he has to learn another game after losing, he\u2019ll do everything to train to win. Until the day he beats you, he won\u2019t stop.<\/p>\n

When the first Argentina goal against England went in, I sat down and let it all out. It was sensational, because you think the end will never come but everything has an end. Without Leo, I don\u2019t know if I\u2019ll support the national team as much as I do now.<\/p>\n

If I were to speak to him now, I\u2019d tell him thank you for everything. For what he\u2019s given to football. For those of us who love football, he came to change all our lives. And thank you for being Argentinian, for letting me see Argentina become champions, making my kids champions and thank you for letting me see their feelings so clearly.<\/p>\n

And thank you for being the example you are as a human being. Because to be a good football player, first you have to be a good person \u2014 and he always says that.<\/p>\n

Whatever happens in the final, I know he\u2019ll do his best. Thank you forever. And thank you for being my friend.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Leandro Benitez was a childhood friend of Lionel Messi and played alongside the Argentina star in the youth…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":593133,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[268],"tags":[394,19139,434,18,117,251351,19,70213,251352,17,10174,28669,8451,795,4335],"class_list":["post-593132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-argentina","tag-barcelona","tag-celebrities","tag-eire","tag-entertainment","tag-fifa-mens-world-cup","tag-ie","tag-inter-miami-cf","tag-international-football","tag-ireland","tag-la-liga","tag-mls","tag-paris-saint-germain","tag-premier-league","tag-soccer"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116945377022872370","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=593132"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593132\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/593133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=593132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=593132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=593132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}