The emotional phrase that Lionel Messi whispered before being world champion and went viral

The dialogue between Lionel Messi and her grandmother in the penalty shootout against France It is the perfect closure for a story that began 31 years ago and marked the football career of the Argentine captain. A video that went viral Tik Tok shows that seconds before Gonzalo Montiel converts his goal, La Pulga looks at the sky and says the phrase: “It could be today, abu.”

The moment lasts just a second. It is a kind of prayer, but at the same time a thank you to Celiathe grandmother of the Argentine star, who was the first to take him to a soccer field and the one who supported him since he was little.

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Celia is Lionel’s maternal grandmother and is the person to whom he dedicates all his goals. Her fingers raised, pointing to the sky, and the kiss, the classic crack celebration that fortunately is not lacking in almost any game.

Women played a fundamental role in Leo’s childhoodbecause of the affectionate role of grandmother that she had with him, containing and consenting to him (like most grandmothers with their grandchildren) but also taking him to play soccer from a very young age, as his two older brothers already did.

For this reason, that phrase is like a perfect closure for the story of the best player in the world who was able to fulfill his ultimate dream in the World Cup in Qatar.

Grandma Celia, a key character in the life of Lionel Messi

The Messis played for the neighborhood club Abanderado Grandoli. Today, the facilities have improved and a mural with the image of Messi with the shirt of the National Team stands out on one of its walls with the inscription that says “Cradle of the greatest”.

In the early 1990s, the little court had more dirt than grass and the walls looked much less painted than they do now. But one day, inside the field, a six-year-old boy who seemed four years old due to his flea-like physique, began to paint the faces of his rivals, who were also a year older.

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And for this to happen, three things happened: that Grandoli’s team in the 86 category was just missing one, that the defeat seemed to have been sealed, and that an older woman named Celia was watching the game in the stands with his grandson Lionel, left-handed and very skilledqualities that the lady knew perfectly well and was willing to defend.

“Are you missing one? Put it on my grandson, ”he demanded of the coach, who turned around looking at the stands and when he saw the baby, he looked back at the court. “Put it on my grandson if you want to win, he will save the game for you”, Celia insisted almost in an arrogant tone, before the look of his little grandson who was dying to play. The technician turned around again and said: “He is very small, ma’am, they are going to hurt him.”

But the grandmother was so convinced that she even began to raise her voice and generated a discussion with the DT, with the occasional visceral and out-of-tune word. But Celia did not care what they would say about her, but what they were going to say about her grandson after they saw him. And finally, convinced that at that point it didn’t matter who entered or just to stop hearing the woman’s screams, the DT agreed and sent Lionel onto the court.

The two goals he scored, the dribbling with which he left his rivals on the ground, were the beginning of his formal relationship with football.. In each goal, he looked for the complicit and happy look of his grandmother. But also, paradoxically, those first years of Leo were the last of Celia, who fell ill with Alzheimer’s and began to lose her memory. She passed away in 1998.

Lionel Messi he had a weakness for her and cried a lot for her absence. Until he was processing the duel and found a way to connect with her through sports: with the celebrations of her goals. In each one of them, by raising her arms and looking at the sky, he heals a bit of the frustration that his grandma Celia I have never been able to see him succeed in football.