Lionel Messi’s First Coach Breaks Down In Tears As He Recalls First Time He Saw Him Play

An interview with Lionel Messi's first ever coach has gone viral on Twitter, as he breaks down in tears recalling the first time he saw the Argentine genius.

Salvador Aparicio is the man who first coached Messi but modestly denied he 'discovered' the player. Sadly, Aparicio died in 2008 and never got to see Messi reach his full potential - but at least the Grandoli coach got to see the player break into Barcelona's first team and play for the Argentine national side.

Messi was born in Rosario and joined Newell's Old Boys aged six, before leaving his home country to join Barcelona age 13. But before all that, he played for local club Grandoli at the age of just four - where Aparicio was his coach.

In an interview conducted shortly before his death, Aparicio recalled first laying eyes on Messi as a young boy.

"Messi and his family once came to watch the match," Aparicio said. "His brothers played here. I was one player short, so I told Messi to come to play.

"He was small. Very small. First time the ball came to him and basically hit his left leg.

"The second time, he controlled the ball and started running across the pitch. He dribbled past everyone crossing his path."

"He scored six or seven goals in every match... He was supernatural, simply put."

Asked about how it felt to watch the young superstar play for Barcelona or the Argentina national team, Aparicio replied: "I feel like I do now. I cry.

"Do you understand? I get emotional. The other day, he scored a goal against Getafe, they say it was like Maradona against England in the World Cup, but I think Leo is better.

"I cry by just watching him. He is my special one. What can I say? I am proud."

Messi's mazy run against Getafe in 2007 - which is indeed eerily similar to Diego Maradona's amazing solo effort in the 1986 World Cup - is still often called Messi's greatest goal.

It's special that at least the proud Aparicio got to see the growth of Messi's career, even if he never lived to see the six-time Ballon d'Or winner reach his full potential as arguably football's greatest ever player.

Topics: Barcelona, Lionel Messi, Argentina

Alex Reid

Alex Reid is a writer at SPORTbible who’s previously strung words together for FourFourTwo, Boxing News, The Guardian and, yes, Cruise International (it’s about big ships, not Tom). Interests range from football and boxing to real sports like WWE and darts. He is not a cage fighter.

@otheralexreid