Lionel Messi said that when he sees the number 10, Diego Maradona comes to his mind as he paid tribute to the late football legend in a conversation with Zinedine Zidane.
The ex-Barcelona forward also heralded two more of his countrymen by heaping praise on Juan Roman Riquelme and Pablo Aimar, who made 51 and 52 appearances for the South American nation.
“For us Argentines the [No.]10 is a very special number, because you see the 10 and Maradona comes to mind,” Messi said to the Frenchman and Adidas. “We wanted to be like him, even if later none of us became like him, that was our desire. Maradona was the 10 and the player we admired.
“I saw little of Diego, when he went to Newell’s as his final club I was six or seven years old and I don’t remember, just like the 1994 World Cup. I was a kid, I don’t remember much.
“Later I saw videos. He is our reference, our idol. For us Diego is something very strong that will be around for many, many years to come, I have no doubt. My children know about Diego without ever having seen him, by video, by what we tell them.”
Messi’s tribute to Riquelme and Aimar
“It’s been lost a lot now,” Messi said of the classic No.10 role. “The position that I had before reflected that I was the hook, now with the 4-3-3 or 4-2-2-2, it is true that there are few left. Our 10, which characterized the Argentine 10, Riquelme, Aimar, there are few or none.
“The 10 does not fit in those systems or it is difficult to put him in. That is why the training of those players was lost.”
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Messi missed his shirt number in France
Messi also acknowledged that when he was at Paris Saint-Germain he suffered from not wearing the No.10 jersey. In France, with Neymar wearing that number, the Argentine chose No.30.
“When it was my turn to be in Paris, I didn’t have the 10,” Messi continued to the ex-Real Madrid man. “I was used to wearing it, although I didn’t mind and nothing happened, but I really missed not having it. Then I got used to it, because I made my debut with the 30,” he said.
Messi’s respect to the Los Blancos player
Despite being a fierce rival to Real Madrid, ‘La Pulga’ admitted he loved watching Zidane take to the field to dictate the tempo of the games and to give the club from the Spanish capital, and fans around the world, iconic moments.
“I admire you a lot, we were not lucky enough to play together,” Messi said to the legendary midfielder. “But we did play against each other a little bit. Always respect and admiration for what you did and continue to do.”
“For me he is one of the greatest in history, I always admired him, I followed him a lot at Madrid, I suffered him because he was from Madrid. He was always a player. different, elegant, tall, magic, he had everything. I remember the goal against Leverkusen, the goals in the World Cup, the 360-degree turns…”
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