Rodolfo Borrell, a former coach at La Masía (Barcelona‘s famed youth academy) between 1996 and 2006 and later assistant to Pep Guardiola at Manchester Metropolis, made maybe one of the crucial inaccurate participant evaluations in soccer historical past: he didn’t imagine Lionel Messi had the potential to succeed at Barcelona.
Cristian Hernández, a former teammate of Messi’s within the Barcelona youth system, revealed Borrell’s evaluation on the “El 10 del Barça” program. In line with Hernández, Borrell downplayed Messi’s talents, deeming him unfit for the membership.
“After I was at Can Barça, we had a coach named Rodolfo Borrell, who years later was Pep Guardiola‘s assistant coach, who didn’t like Messi,” Hernández defined.
Borrell reportedly criticized Messi’s taking part in model, describing it as too just like futsal (indoor soccer), stating that the younger Messi “touched the ball an excessive amount of” and “dribbled an excessive amount of.”
Hernández countered that Borrell’s view was inaccurate, emphasizing Messi’s innate goal-scoring intuition: “He stated he was an indoor soccer participant, that he touched the ball an excessive amount of and that he dribbled an excessive amount of, and it was truly the alternative, as a result of if Leo Messi had something it was that he went straight for the purpose.”
Doubt regardless of early promise
Regardless of Borrell’s doubts, Messi continued to shine within the Barcelona youth ranks. Even at 13, his distinctive expertise was evident. Nevertheless, Hernández recounted the numerous uncertainty surrounding Messi’s potential, with Borrell going as far as to state that Messi was “not a participant for this membership.”
The passage of time has proven the magnitude of Borrell’s misjudgment. Messi’s profession with Barcelona grew to become a legendary love story. He performed 778 official matches, scored 672 targets, offered 303 assists, and received 34 titles, together with ten La Liga titles, 4 Champions League trophies, and three Membership World Cups. His legacy on the membership is unparalleled.
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