Controversial football legend, Diego Maradona, has claimed that it was the advice he gave to five times Ballon D’or winner, Lionel Messi, during his reign as the head coach of Argentina national team that turned the latter into a football god.
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According to Maradona who made this known during a press conference, he said his simple words of encouragement during their times together proved to be what the Barcelona attacker needed to get going as arguably the best footballer of his generation.
His words:
“I coached the best, Messi, and nobody can tell me otherwise, because he was able to skip past up to five players – a phenomenon,” the ex-Barcelona and Napoli forward said.
“He had an issue with free-kicks. When we finished every training session, we kept Leo behind so he could practice, and he started to hit the post.
“I didn’t teach him how to take a free-kick, then he asked me how I was able to score. I said, ‘you just have to hit it in the middle. They aren’t going to give me an Oscar to teach you this’.
“And he replied, ‘but I hit it in the middle and the ball goes this way or that way’ and I told him, ‘don’t worry, you’re going to make it’. Now he just can’t miss.”
