
I remember we were having supper, and I didn’t know who he was. It was the first time I saw him. I remember him sitting to my right, Garay in front of us, and Formica on my other side. And they started talking about shoes at some point, and Leo says, “Yeah, in the United States, this and that,” so I say to myself, who is this guy? I didn’t watch much games back then, just some Argentinian games. So I ask him, “What’s your name?” I asked Leo that! So he looks back at me, and he says, “Lionel.” “Oh,” I say. “Same as me, kinda. Sergio Leonel. And your last name?” “Messi,” he says to me. “Oh.” So I’m like, “Alright,” and Formica says, “Don’t you know who he is?” Then I start thinking, I heard the news about some player from Barcelona, and I finally figured it was him. When we started training, I said, “This guy’s a dancer.” After that, we just laughed it off and we hit off. Tojo set us up together in the same room, and that’s kind of just how it was since 2005.