When Lionel Messi joined the first team at the age of 17, he was shy–so shy that his youth teammates that he had played with for three years had hardly heard him speak. He was the one who didn’t own a pair of jeans but always wore his training outfit. But when he joined the first team, Ronaldinho decided to take care of the young boy and invited him to his house in Gavá. They talked and played football with Ronnie’s three dogs. Then it didn’t take long before even little Leo had a pair of jeans. Deco even took him to the hairdresser, but in the end Leo didn’t dare to cut his long hair off. Lionel and Ronaldinho became best friends and when everyone was convinced that Leo was the best player in the world, he would still insist that honour remained with Ronaldinho.
