Pep Guardiola : " I remember when I came to Barcelona in July 2008 and entered training, Laporta came to me and said, “Messi wants to participate in the Beijing Olympics in August.” I was against the idea and told him, “It can’t be, it’s not important and we’re afraid of injuries and we have warm-up matches.” But then, during training, Leo, that little boy I’d heard a lot about, came to me holding a ball and said, “I’ve received an invitation from the national team to participate in the Olympics.” I told him, “Leo, you’re the most important player here. We want you. The season is long and we don’t want to take any risks. The Olympics are not important.” He answered me with a smile and said, “Even if it’s a friendly match, it’s important because it’s my country and they need me. I can’t refuse. I’m going for the gold medal.” I watched him play and he was amazing. He said he would win, and he did win. Messi doesn’t lie when he talks about football. Do you know what’s funny? When he returned to training, during the first training session, he entered with the medal hanging around his neck. I laughed and said, “Leo, even the gold wants to play.” With you "At that moment, I realized that greatness is not built by overprotection, but by the faith a coach gives to 'that player' who is different from the rest. If I had blocked him, we might have kept him fit for a couple of extra days, but we would have lost the fire that lit our season that year!"
🎙️Pep Guardiola🇪🇸 : " I remember when I came to Barcelona in July 2008 and entered training, Laporta came to me and said, “Messi wants to participate in the Beijing Olympics in August.” I was against the idea and told him, “It can’t be, it’s not important and we’re afraid of injuries and we have warm-up matches.” But then, during training, Leo, that little boy I’d heard a lot about, came to me holding a ball and said, “I’ve received an invitation from the national team to participate in the Olympics.” I told him, “Leo, you’re the most important player here. We want you. The season is long and we don’t want to take any risks. The Olympics are not important.” He answered me with a smile and said, “Even if it’s a friendly match, it’s important because it’s my country and they need me. I can’t refuse. I’m going for the gold medal.” I watched him play and he was amazing. He said he would win, and he did win. Messi doesn’t lie when he talks about football. Do you know what’s funny? When he returned to training, during the first training session, he entered with the medal hanging around his neck. I laughed and said, “Leo, even the gold wants to play.” With you "At that moment, I realized that greatness is not built by overprotection, but by the faith a coach gives to 'that player' who is different from the rest. If I had blocked him, we might have kept him fit for a couple of extra days, but we would have lost the fire that lit our season that year!"
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