Many who have had the luxury of sharing the training field with Lionel Messi are often left in awe, but one former teammate has revealed a ‘strange’ side to his practice.
Messi is often spoken about as the greatest star in soccer and his star quality is appreciated outside of the game as well with both the NFL’s Patrick Mahomes and NBA’s Stephen Curry praising the Argentine.
One of Inter Miami’s pre-season opponents spoke of his love for Messi who is still performing at the highest level despite now being 37.
Tadeo Allende has revealed the pressure of playing alongside Messi, but one of the World Cup winner’s former teammates at Barcelona has revealed his ‘strange’ training ground greeting.
Trincao opens up on Messi greeting
There is no doubt that training alongside Messi must be daunting but many stars have spoken about how helpful he is on the training field.
Messi was named the 2024 MLS MVP, showing he should still be held in high regard despite coming to the end of his career.
Herons youngster Santiago Morales spoke about his learning from Messi and Suarez in training while former Barcelona teammate Franciso Trincao has opened up on a much different side to Messi.
Trincao told Relevo about a greeting of Messi’s that he found ‘strange’: ” At first it was a bit strange because culturally, in Argentina and Uruguay, they kiss a lot to greet each other and it was strange for Messi to greet me with a kiss every time I arrived at the academy.”
Perhaps Messi has ditched the kiss now he’s in the MLS, but stars are still loving training with the record-holding Ballon d’Or winner.
New signing Fafa Picault recently explained how he was ‘amazed’ training alongside Messi and his teachings will become invaluable throughout this MLS campaign.
Trincao praises Messi’s ‘example’
It’s impossible to be asked about Messi and not give him some compliments, Trincao of course expressed how impressed he was with Messi’s voice on and off the field.
Trincao said: “On the pitch, Messi was very calm. He set an example more than he spoke to us, he helped us on the pitch, where we should go and what to do.
“He would tell us something and we would accept it because what he said was true.”
New Herons boss Javier Mascherano will be desperate to keep Messi fit before the start of the new MLS season, especially after the late red card tackle that he recently received in the friendly against Sporting San Miguelito.
The star still shone and scored his second goal of the pre-season in a 0-5 win over Club Olimpia. It remains to be seen how much he will be used against Orlando City FC.