Lionel Messi has revealed how Brazilian football legend Ronaldinho and other senior Barcelona teammates helped him overcome his shyness and settle into the club’s first team as a teenager, urging him to ignore the pressure of playing alongside established stars and focus on enjoying football.
The eight-time Ballon d’Or winner recalled that joining Barcelona’s senior squad at just 16 was an intimidating experience, despite his exceptional talent. Surrounded by some of the biggest names in the game, the Argentine struggled to feel comfortable because of his naturally reserved personality.
Messi shared the experience while speaking to students in Oviedo on Thursday, ahead of receiving the Princess of Asturias Award for Sports.
“I had to walk into a first-division dressing room packed with stars when I was just 16. I was nervous,” he said.
“I had people like Ronaldinho, Samuel Eto’o, Xavi, Carlos Puyol and many others around me.
“It was difficult for me because of my personality. I’m shy and I found it hard to come out of my shell,” Messi added, according to GB News.
Rather than allowing the reputation of his teammates to overwhelm him, Messi said they encouraged him to concentrate on the game he had loved since childhood.
“What they told me was to forget about everything, forget the context and just enjoy myself and do what I had been doing all my life since I was a kid, without thinking about who was next to me.
“They told me to do what I loved doing and what I enjoyed,” he said.
The advice came at a crucial stage in Messi’s development, as he transitioned from Barcelona’s youth system into a senior dressing room filled with experienced internationals. He would eventually become the club’s all-time leading goalscorer and one of the most decorated players in football history.
Ronaldinho, who was among Barcelona’s leading stars when Messi began breaking into the first team, is also remembered for recognising the teenager’s remarkable potential early in his career.
According to Guillem Balague’s biography, Messi, the Brazilian contacted journalist Cristina Cubero after training with the youngster and made a striking prediction about his future.
“I’ve just finished training with someone who is going to be better than me,” Ronaldinho reportedly said.
The relationship between the two players became one of the memorable connections of Messi’s early years at Barcelona, with Ronaldinho serving as one of the established figures around him during his introduction to senior football.
Beyond his early experiences at Barcelona, Messi also reflected on the importance of accepting defeat, describing the ability to handle disappointment as an essential part of a footballer’s development.
Drawing on his experiences in major competitions, including Argentina’s defeat to Germany in the 2014 World Cup final and difficult Champions League campaigns, the forward said players should measure themselves not only by results but also by the effort they put into achieving their goals.
“You may or may not achieve your goal, but you have to be satisfied knowing that you gave it your all and that you can feel complete beyond the final result,” he said.
Messi stressed that while winning is important, learning how to lose with dignity and perspective is equally necessary in a sport where defeats are inevitable.
“The most important thing is knowing how to lose. Knowing how to win, too, because there are a lot of people who don’t know how to win,” he said.
“But knowing how to lose is fundamental in this sport because you lose far more often than you win.
“You shouldn’t get used to losing, but you do have to understand that you can lose, and you have to accept it.”
His reflections carry particular significance given the setbacks he endured before reaching the summit of world football. Argentina lost the 2014 World Cup final, while Messi also experienced painful exits from major international tournaments before finally securing the Copa América in 2021.
That triumph ended Argentina’s long wait for a major senior international trophy and was followed by an even greater achievement when Messi captained the country to victory at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
At club level, his years at Barcelona brought four Champions League titles, 10 La Liga championships and numerous individual honours, cementing his place among football’s greatest players.
Now continuing his career with Inter Miami in the United States, Messi’s latest comments offer a glimpse into the experiences and mindset that shaped his remarkable journey from a shy teenager seeking his place among Barcelona’s stars to a global football icon who has experienced both the pain of defeat and the joy of historic victories.