play3:00How a VHS tape introduced Lionel Messi to ArgentinaTo convince Argentina’s coaches of Lionel Messi’s talents, a VHS tape of the Barcelona youngster’s highlights was put together. Stream “Messi: The Forgotten Tape” on ESPN+.
play1:40Young Messi’s dreams: ‘To win a World Cup would be incredible’In an interview from 2004, a 15-year-old Lionel Messi speaks of his ambition to win the World Cup for Argentina. Stream “Messi: The Forgotten Tape” on ESPN+.
play3:42How Argentina arranged an entire match just for a young Lionel MessiArgentina arranged a friendly match against Paraguay specifically to give him his debut and secure his future international career. Stream “Messi: The Forgotten Tape” on ESPN+.
Trailer – Messi: The Forgotten Tape (1:09)Before a young Lionel Messi had ever played for Argentina, Spain tried to get him to represent them instead. Stream “Messi: The Forgotten Tape” on ESPN+. (1:09)
How a VHS tape introduced Lionel Messi to ArgentinaTo convince Argentina’s coaches of Lionel Messi’s talents, a VHS tape of the Barcelona youngster’s highlights was put together. Stream “Messi: The Forgotten Tape” on ESPN+.
To convince Argentina’s coaches of Lionel Messi’s talents, a VHS tape of the Barcelona youngster’s highlights was put together. Stream “Messi: The Forgotten Tape” on ESPN+.
Young Messi’s dreams: ‘To win a World Cup would be incredible’In an interview from 2004, a 15-year-old Lionel Messi speaks of his ambition to win the World Cup for Argentina. Stream “Messi: The Forgotten Tape” on ESPN+.
In an interview from 2004, a 15-year-old Lionel Messi speaks of his ambition to win the World Cup for Argentina. Stream “Messi: The Forgotten Tape” on ESPN+.
How Argentina arranged an entire match just for a young Lionel MessiArgentina arranged a friendly match against Paraguay specifically to give him his debut and secure his future international career. Stream “Messi: The Forgotten Tape” on ESPN+.
Argentina arranged a friendly match against Paraguay specifically to give him his debut and secure his future international career. Stream “Messi: The Forgotten Tape” on ESPN+.
Sam MarsdenMay 13, 2026, 05:00 AM ETMultiple Authors
How would the past 20 years of international football have looked if Lionel Messi had played for Spain and not Argentina?
With Spain on the scene, once word escaped of this long-haired teenager from Rosario tearing it up for Barcelona’s academy, panic set in at the Argentine Football Association (AFA).
What followed is a remarkable story involving a Messi highlight reel on VHS tape, a frantic day ringing everyone called Messi in the phone book, people repeatedly getting the future superstar’s name wrong, and a hastily arranged match to ensure Argentina tied him down.
As part of a new documentary, ESPN spoke to those behind Messi’s first international call-up, providing new details on the start of a tale that culminated in 2022 when the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner led La Albiceleste to their third FIFA World Cup triumph.
Editor’s Note: All of the quotes from interviewees were originally in Spanish, and have been translated
The 13-year-old Messi arrived in Barcelona in 2000, and it was soon obvious inside the club’s La Masia academy that he was a generational talent. Barça youth team coach Alex García and Messi’s teammate Víctor Vázquez couldn’t understand why there was such little interest from Argentina. Spain youth team coach Ginés Meléndez set them a task: convince him to play for La Roja. The same question was put to Horacio Gaggioli, one of Messi’s early representatives.
Vázquez: He had a different speed, a much faster way of thinking and a way of interpreting the game before receiving the ball, always keeping his head up. He was completely different from everything we had in that great generation of 1987.
García: Players from that generation like [Gerard] Piqué, Cesc [Fàbregas], Marc Valiente and Víctor Vázquez were going with the Spain national teams, but Leo wasn’t being called up. I was surprised. It wasn’t normal for a player like Leo not to be on any national team. So, I told the national team coach at the time, Meléndez: “There’s a kid here, an Argentine, but they don’t call him up. Maybe there’s a possibility he might want to play for Spain.”
Meléndez: I was coaching Spain’s U15 and U16 teams, traveling all over the country looking for players. Messi was part of a wonderful generation Barcelona had. Piqué, Valiente, Vázquez, Sito Riera, Tony Calvo, Fàbregas. I even had the goalkeeper from that team. All I was missing was Leo. I imagined him with that team. I imagined my national team being completely invincible.
The strategy ran through his coach and teammates: “You have to convince him, please. You have to convince him.” That way we wouldn’t offend the Argentine Federation, because [AFA president] Julio Grondona, may he rest in peace, was a close friend of [Royal Spanish Football Federation] president Ángel María Villar.
Vázquez: When we would return from playing with Spain, in one of those conversations we had as young guys full of enthusiasm, I must have said to him: “Hey, Leo, have you ever considered playing with us?”
García: I said: “Wouldn’t you like to play for Spain so you don’t end up here all alone when everyone’s away?”
Meléndez: I reminded them: “Tell him that until he’s 21, he can change his mind. He can still play for his country if he plays with our youth teams.”
Gaggioli: I received many calls: “Hey Horacio, do you think he can play for the Spanish national team?” I would say: “We’d have to talk to him, and the family, of course he can play, he’s more than capable, but he has to decide.” But Leo was always clear: He wanted to play for Argentina and Barcelona.
At the end of 2002, Argentina coach Marcelo Bielsa and his assistant Claudio Vivas were in Barcelona as part of a trip to check in on some of their senior players. Gaggioli seized the opportunity to get Messi on their radar, requesting help from Barça TV journalist Jaume Marcet.
Gaggioli: That was [Messi’s dad] Jorge’s idea. He told me: “Horacio, the Argentine national team is coming to Barcelona, can you get them some footage of Leo?” Leo wasn’t well known in Argentina. We had a video that I was given by Barça with some plays, and I went to the Hotel Princesa Sofia in Barcelona where they were staying. I asked for Vivas, who was Bielsa’s assistant.
How a VHS tape introduced Lionel Messi to Argentina
Vivas: When Marcelo renewed his contract with Argentina, we toured Europe to explain to the players why we had renewed after the South Korea-Japan World Cup [in 2002]. During that stop in Barcelona, an Argentine man approached me.
By the time the tape made it to Hugo Tocalli, coach of Argentina’s youth teams, the 2003 U17 World Cup was around the corner. However, Tocalli took the decision not to call Messi up for the tournament in Finland, a decision La Nación journalist Andrés Eliceche remembers as the final push needed to rush through Messi’s first international call-up.
Eliceche: That tape took two months to arrive in Argentina because Vivas and Bielsa had gone with the national team to play a series of friendly matches. When they returned, Vivas went directly from the airport to the training ground to meet with Tocalli.
Tocalli: There were 15 days left before we had to travel to the World Cup in Finland and Vivas gave me a VHS tape. He said to me: “Look, this is a kid from Rosario, he’s playing in Spain, see if you like him, if not, that’s fine.” I played it and there were five plays. He was playing for Barcelona; I don’t remember who they were playing against. I watched it again and again, those five or six plays. I loved the speed he had. He was like a squirrel when he started running.
Vivas: All I asked Tocalli was: “As an Argentine and a fan of football, please don’t let this player get away.”
Tocalli: I didn’t take him to Finland because we were very close to traveling. It was a squad that had played in the South American Championship and had worked very hard for the World Cup. I didn’t want to leave out a player who had been practicing for almost two years just to bring him along.
Meléndez: In 2003, we went to the World Cup in Finland and we played against Argentina in the semifinal.
Tocalli: We were up 2-0, Lucas Biglia got injured and we lost 3-2. The last two goals were scored by [Spain’s] Fábregas.
Vivas: It caught my attention because at that World Cup, Fábregas, [Messi’s] teammate, was the star and they played together in the same category. I think [Messi] would have contributed a lot to the team.
Young Messi’s dreams: ‘To win a World Cup would be incredible’
Elicheche: After the game, there’s a dinner and the leaders of both federations met. At some point, Messi’s name comes up in the conversation.
Tocalli: We finished eating. Spain’s team was next to us. Their chef comes out, we knew him, and he says: “Tocalli, if you would’ve brought the kid from Barcelona, you would’ve been champions with the team you have.” That hit me hard, like someone had stabbed me with a dagger, you know? So, I stopped and said: “Don’t tell me, Messi?” The chef’s reply was: “How can you not bring him here if you know him?”
Elicheche: It was just too much, I mean, it wasn’t just a professional who worked [coaching the team]. Now, even the chef from Spain was telling Tocalli: “You’re failing at something.”
Back in Buenos Aires, Tocalli set the wheels in motion to avoid losing Messi to Spain. Omar Souto, the Argentina national team’s manager, was tasked with locating the family. Meanwhile, a friendly, which also featured Federico Almerares, was so hastily arranged that it had the bizarre twist of an Argentine, Gabriel Brazenas, refereeing an Argentina national team because of the urgent need for a FIFA-recognized match official.
Souto: Nobody knew him. What should I do? I went to Montegrande to find a phone booth. I asked for the Yellow Pages of Rosario, found the letter M where the Messi’s were and started calling one by one … until I found the grandmother who gave me the uncle’s number, who then gave me his father’s number. I called Spain and said: “I’m calling on behalf of the Argentine national team, I want to speak with Leonardo Messi.” And [Jorge] says: “No, his name is not Leonardo.”