FCBARCELONA.CAT

19.04.2007 14:55

That goal in Messi’s own words

Lionel Messi has captivated the entire world of football with his amazing goal against Getafe. The pundits have run out of adjectives to describe his solo effort but this is how Messi himself described those magical moments.

Lionel Messi saw the replay of his goal for the first time just after the final whistle. Speaking on the Barça TV programme ‘4-3-3', the delighted but calm young Argentine striker described the action step by step.

Clear from the start

Round about the 29th minute of the first half, Messi received a pass from Xavi just inside the Barça half. He set off on a lightening quick penetrating run that took him past five Getafe players with thirteen touches of the ball. He assured Barça TV that his ideas had been clear right from the very beginning: “When I beat the first two defenders, I saw that there was a lot of space and I decided to keep going forward, as I nearly always do, because there was enough space to run into”.

The Camp Nou fans

On seeing the goal for the first time, a visibly emotional Messi broke into a broad smile on hearing the Camp Nou crowd chanting his name and seeing a vast sea of white handkerchiefs appear in his honour: “I wasn’t thinking about anything except that the objective was the goal and finishing off the move”.

Decisive

Messi also revealed that on reaching the Getafe penalty box, he noticed that Samuel Eto'o was unmarked and was on the point of passing him the ball: “I saw Samu but as the two Getafe defenders were backing off, I decided to play it. I thought about shooting earlier but the ball got away from me and I decided to continue. I played it”. It couldn’t have turned out better for him.