Lionel Messi on the cover of TIME Magazine
Friday, January 27th, 2012
Messi coverboy on Time Magazine (Photo: Time)
TIME COVER: EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH LIONEL MESSI
This week’s international edition of TIME features football star Lionel Messi on the cover with the title, “King Leo.” In an exclusive interview with TIME’s Bobby Ghosh, the Argentina native and FC Barcelona superstar speaks to TIME about handling criticism from his fellow countrymen and how he still has room to improve his unreal skills. Ghosh writes, “Lionel Messi is the best football player in the world – possibly of all time. So why won’t his countrymen love him?”
Highlights from the conversation:
On accusations from critics that he puts club ahead of country: ”[Critics] said things that weren’t true, that I didn’t care as much about wearing the [Argentine] shirt….I’ve never stopped being Argentine, and I’ve never wanted to.”
On his reception in Argentina when he returns home: ”Before there was a lot of criticism and everything was bad….And now it’s not like that. That’s good, because every country I go, people have always received me very well, and in my own country that wasn’t happening.”
On how he is constantly improving: ”Year after year, I’ve grown, improved….I was lucky to start very young and always have very good colleagues around me as I was coming up, and this has helped me and how I play….There’s still a lot of time to prepare and to improve.”
On whether or not he picks the virtual version of himself when playing video games: ”Of Course. How else can I win?”
Read the full interview here: http://ti.me/Ago2QF
Bobby Ghosh’s cover story, Lionel Messi’s Final Goal, is included below and can be found online here: http://ti.me/AyQZXA
TIME.com also has the following supplementary Messi content:
-Post: The Experts Weigh In: Messi May Be the Best of All Time — Except for One Thing
-Post: An Introduction to Messi: An Outsider’s Take
-Video: Behind the scenes of the Messi Interview
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