New footage has emerged of a 9-year-old Lionel Messi showing off his skills in front of a capacity crowd at El Coloso del Parque, the home stadium of Newell’s Old Boys.
Messi’s youth team, known colloquially as “The Machine of 87” (1987 being the year they were all born), were paraded on the pitch before a game in 1996, after they had returned to Rosario as champions of the Copa de la Amistad tournament in Peru.
Messi, the star player of the team, was asked to show off his ball juggling skills. As he kicks the ball effortlessly up and down without it dropping, an amazing thing happened.
The Newell’s fans, who had just a few years previously watched Diego Maradona play for Newell’s, started to chant “Maraaado, Maraaado”, a famous song for the mercurial number ten.
The fact that little Messi was already being labelled as a young “Maradona” at 9 years old was prophetic, considering what he went on to do in his career.
Watch the video below.
