Lionel Messi’s immense talent brought a premature end to the career of his youth football coach, who decided to quit after training ‘the best player in the world’.
Coach Enrique Dominguez was just 45 when Barcelona legend Messi blazed a trail in his hometown of Rosario as a pre-teen.
Messi, who was preparing for his sixth World Cup with the current defending champions, was born the third of four children in the city on the Paraná River.
An aerial view shows a mural of Lionel Messi on a football field known as «El Campito», where he played as a child, in his childhood neighborhood in Rosario. | Photo credit: AFP
An aerial view shows a mural of Lionel Messi on a football field known as «El Campito», where he played as a child, in his childhood neighborhood in Rosario. | Photo credit: AFP
The house where he grew up, in the working-class neighborhood of La Bajada, is a place of pilgrimage for lovers of the beautiful game from far and wide.
The life story of Rosario’s favorite son is spread in gigantic murals across the walls and tower blocks of his hometown.
“From another galaxy, but from my neighborhood,” reads the inscription on one such tribute.
A Colombian flag hangs from the balustrade around his old house, surrounded by smaller Argentinian banners.
«Leo, your greatness transcends boundaries; thank you for all the football and magic. A grateful Colombian,» reads a message on the flag.
Walter Barrera, one of Messi’s childhood friends, grew up around the corner.
He remembers a shortcut the pair took to school, through a hole they cut in the barbed wire fence surrounding a military base.
Walter Barrera, a childhood friend of Lionel Messi. | Photo credit: AFP
Walter Barrera, a childhood friend of Lionel Messi. | Photo credit: AFP
On one occasion, the security guard chased the pair.
«We were a little unruly, but we weren’t bad kids,» he confided, smiling.
‘A gift from God’
The two friends tried different sports as children, from rugby to baseball and foot volleyball.
But Messi’s football destiny was clear.
«We knew he would go far; he was a great football player,» Walter said AFP.
At the age of five, the boy’s lightning-fast footwork was given the nickname The flea (The Flea) was already a source of wonder at his local club because of his small stature.
Shortly afterwards he joined Malvinas Argentinas, the youth academy of Newell’s Old Boys, Rosario’s top team of which he is still an avid fan.
READ: Messi himself seen training during Argentina’s first World Cup camp
At Newell he met coach Dominguez, who retired shortly after.
“To me he was like a gift from God,” said the 72-year-old former instructor AFP.
“One day someone asked me: ‘What do you recognize about your teaching when you see Leo playing?’ Nothing, because there was nothing to teach him. He already knew everything.
“What Leo does on the field today, he already did at the age of 12.”
‘No money for petrol’
Adrian Coria, who also coached Messi at Newell’s, remembers the family’s money problems when Lionel was young.
His father, Jorge, a factory worker, always said he wasn’t sure his son could get an education «because he didn’t have enough money for gas.»
Around that time, Jorge and his wife, Celia Maria Cuccitini, who worked as a cleaner, discovered that their son had a growth hormone deficiency, threatening his career.
«Leo was 40 centimeters shorter than his teammates and 15 kg lighter. That is difficult for a player,» said Coria.
The family arranged for Lionel to try out at FC Barcelona’s youth academy, La Masia, who immediately picked him up and arranged to pay for his treatment.
Messi moved to Barcelona in 2000 at the age of 13. He has not lived in Argentina since.
«He knew what he wanted. He wanted to be a football player, he wanted to be the best,» Coria said.
Published on June 3, 2026
