Here and Gone -- Messi article

This probably would go unnoticed by most of you since its an article over here, but Wright Thompson wrote a wonderful article trying to find out about the connection between Messi and his hometown of Rosario. Thompson went and traveled to Rosario to try to find out more about him, and there are plenty of interesting quotes from many people that have known him for years.

It's obviously missing quotes from Messi, but that's kind of the point -- the topic covered wouldn't be a topic that Messi would seemingly converse about anyways.

I know that 95% of the forum will hit me with a too long, didn't read, but for the rest of you, I think you'll enjoy it, if not for the effort put in to find out more about him. I'll provide the link here, as I don't think the entire article would properly paste anyways.

THE STRANGE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LIONEL MESSI AND HIS HOMETOWN IN ARGENTINA

That SS style.

For some reason, the site is taking too long to load. Can someone just copy and paste the article on here?

I read an article recently about beef between Villa and Messi and how Messi is staring to demand the ball more and become a little bit more arrogant on the pith which is odd when you think of Messi, but honestly even the most humble man can be told he is the greatest thing in the world over and over against until it goes to his head

It's not surprising if you watch Barcelona on a regular basis. I've noticed Messi lose his temper more and become more selfish over the past year or two. You can see him argue with referees and opponents more (something he never did back in the days even if he was chopped in half). All the pressure that is on him constantly has made him like this, so I feel somewhat sorry for him. I expect him to retire earlier than the average top player.

Great read.

On that thing, I read in Zlatans book that Messi demanded he was the focal point of Barcas defence and be played up front instead of on the wing.

Yeah cuz he's the best player in the world.

Good read.

Yea, as long as he produces the goods you cant really argue..

There's the old adage that players aren't considered with personal accomplishments so long as their team was winning. I think what the writer was going for in part of his article is that messi wouldn't be happy if Barcelona was winning, but not due to his goals or assists. It's interesting, and I don't think that it's special to Messi, but that seems to drive him to higher aspirations.