Lionel Messi: Newell’s Old Boys release rare footage of legend’s ‘first’ post-match interview

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·10 November 2021

Lionel Messi: Newell’s Old Boys release rare footage of legend’s ‘first’ post-match interview

Newell’s Old Boys have uploaded footage of what they believe is Lionel Messi’s first ever post-match interview.

Messi, regarded by many as the greatest footballer of all time, joined his local Rosario-based club at the age of six.

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He then remained with Newell’s until 2000 when he moved from South America to Europe to join Barcelona at the age of 13.

Messi scored 234 goals in 176 matches at youth level for Newell’s, the club that he still supports today.

The newly-released footage shows a reporter from Newell’s asking Messi if he would be prepared to speak on camera following a Man of the Match performance.

The shy Messi initially appears reluctant to come over before telling the reporter: “Wait, I am coming.”

Asked to first give his name, Messi was then told if he was aware he’d been chosen as Man of the Match, to which he replied: “No.”

The reporter then said: “Can you tell us about your goals in front of the camera?”

Messi responded: “The ball came from Federico Rosso, Grighini gave it to Lucas. Lucas gave it to me and I scored it.”

Asked who he will dedicate his second goal to, Messi said: “I will dedicate it to my father, to my uncle, to all my family and to all the people who know me.”

As the old saying goes: show me the boy and I’ll show you the man.

Messi, now 34 years old, is still the same humble team player that he’s always been.

What happened to Messi's Newell's Old Boys teammates?

Newell’s have also revealed what happened to the teammates that Messi mentions in the interview.

Federico Rosso had a brief spell with Brescia in Italy before returning to Argentina. He currently plays for Club Agropecuario in Argentine Nacional B.

The ‘Lucas’ that Messi refers to is Lucas Scaglia, who is a cousin of Antonella Roccuzzo - Messi’s wife.

Messi and Antonella first met at Lucas’ house. Scaglia played for Newell’s first team and also had stints with clubs in the USA and Europe.

Messi also mentions Gerardo Grighini, who moved to Italy as a youngster before playing in Serie B and Serie C with teams including Cittadella and Vicenza. He is now retired.

Grighini, Scaglia, Rosso and, of course, Messi formed what was known as ‘The Machine of ’87’ (all the players were born in 1987.

They went three whole years unbeaten and had a reunion in Rosaria, which Messi himself attended.