The first time I watched Lionel Messi play for Barcalona I was in 2014. I was around three or four at my cousins house while my mama and papa were out working. I remember being infatuated with him as a player. Everyone around me knew he was great but it was something I had to see. From than one I kept watching and watching him. Another first for me was watching him lose.. well not exactly first — I had an EMOTIONAL wc 2014 but I wasn’t exactly old enough to fully understand that. I think that 3-0 loss to Juve in the 16/17 showed me his first great loss to me. And obviously this isn’t an international game, but this had me sobbing. It’s like believing something would never break but than it ending up just as fragile as everything else is in life. This changed my feeling towards Messi for little me, it showed me to be happy and proud of him for playing so hard, but also sad for him when it isn’t exactly his time. This is also how I felt watching his 2018 wc loss. (Horrible year for little me with El Tri aswell!!!) Football is the most constant factor in my life. It’s been there for me through every up and down I’ve faced. Football brings my family together, football makes my dad happy, football cooled me down whenever I had fears about my livelihood. The biggest most constant thing in football for me is Lionel Messi. Messi raised what my idea of football was. Messi showed me what talent looked like. Messi showed me that poor Hispanic kids like us can do great things in our lives. He showed me many things that I don’t think most athletes can do. But there’s other constants in my life; family, friends, and sadder stuff obviously. But this lies into Messi as well. My papa is the biggest fanboy I know, i could bet that loves Messi more than 1/3 of this app I bet. Nothing made me happier growing up than watching Barca/Tigres with my family when ever we could. It’s the little things in life; such as sports, that makes people more connected with one another. (1/2)