Source: Daily_Mail
EXCLUSIVE: I'd pay to watch United star Ronaldo, admits marvelous Messi
Even if Lionel Messi had never grown beyond the 4ft 5in his doctors once feared would be his maximum height, he still would have been here in Rome.
He would have been here as a supporter of the club that paid his medical bills when he was a teenager, and as an admirer of the player who excites him most.
The player he says, even now, he would pay to watch.
Lionel Messi is hoping for Champions League glory on Wednesday night
This year's Champions League final is being billed as much as a duel between Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo as it is between Manchester United and Barcelona.
A duel between the world's finest player and the pretender to his crown.
But nobody is more excited to see Ronaldo than the little Argentine winger who will be attacking at the opposite end of the field for the Catalan giants.
'Manchester United have quality everywhere,' says Messi.
'So many good players. But if I had to pick one out it would be Ronaldo.
'He is a player I would pay to watch.
'He and I are very different players but he is unbelievable, very special, and it will not be easy to stop him.
'But we must not pay all attention to him and forget about Berbatov, Rooney and Carlos Tevez.
'Manchester United have players all over the pitch who can punish you in the same way we have.'
He respects United enormously but never enough to play for them.
Never enough to walk away from the club that paid for the medical care he needed after being diagnosed with a growth hormone eficiency at the age of 11.
The injections he needed cost$1,500 a month and it was Carles Rexach, the sporting director at the Nou Camp, who identified the youngster's considerable talent and moved both him and his family to Spain.
Thanks to the injections he grew to 5ft 6in, making his unofficial debut at 16 after first joining the club's youth set-up.
'I am loyal to Barcelona,' he said.
'The doctors at home in Argentina told my parents I would never grow past4ft 5in.
'The medical bills were very high. My father took on other jobs but even then it was not enough for the other bills.
'Nobody else was prepared to take a chance on me apart from Barcelona and if it was not for them I would not even be a professional football player.
'I have said so many times that I am so happy at Barcelona, and I have no desire to ever leave.
'I owe them so much. I want to repay them for the rest of my career.'
He is actually the antithesis of Ronaldo.
Modest and not even remotely flashy.
