Source: Daily_Mail
EXCLUSIVE: I'd pay to watch United star Ronaldo, admits marvellous 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 deficiency 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 past 4ft 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.
And someone who admires Tevez as much for his family values as his ability as a footballer.
‘Carlos is my friend,’ he says. ‘He is such a good player but he is an even better man. You see him and he is the ideal family man and I very much respect that.
‘He does not always get the game time he perhaps wants for club and country but he never complains. He just encourages.’
Messi also dismisses talk of him being the new Maradona.
‘It is nice for people to say things like that,’ he says. ‘But it is far too early to hear things like that.
‘Look what Maradona has done for Argentina. There is no way I can be compared with players like that yet.
Messi feels he will spend the whole of his career at the Nou Camp
'I want to be my own player and even though it is nice for people to say such things I try not to pay any attention.
‘I’m not trying to be better than anybody and that is the truth.
'At the end of it all, in 10 or 15 years’ time, we can look at what I have achieved and won with my club and country.
'And then if people want to say nice things that’s great for me.’
He has such respect for his opponents and even sympathy for the Chelsea players — Didier Drogba chief among them — who so disgraced themselves at the climax of their Champions League semi-final at Stamford Bridge after Andres Iniesta’s goal.
‘It was a Champions League semi-final and they were two minutes from going through,’ he says.
‘Emotions will be high when a team loses a game in the fashion that Chelsea did.
‘I’m not saying it is right, the way they reacted to the referee, but you can understand it. Chelsea did very well to nearly close us out for two games and in the end it took a special goal by a very special player.’
Iniesta, Messi, Henry, Xavi, Eto’o.
Barca have so many special players.
‘We’re a special team,’ says Messi.
‘And for that reason it would be great to make history together.
‘And we also have great defenders who have won European championships and all sorts of things.
'This team is complete from goalkeeper to the forwards.
‘Then there is our coach, Pep (Guardiola). We know that United’s coach has had so much success but Pep is his own man and we’re so confident in him.
‘Look what he has already done in his first season. He has not long retired from playing the game and that comes across because sometimes it feels like he is our 12th man.
Messi admits it is a privilege to play with Barcelona's superstars, namely Thierry Henry, Andres Iniesta, and Samuel Eto'o
‘To win the Champions League with these people would be such an honour. And, like I said, I feel I owe Barcelona so much I want to help their already great history become even greater.
‘I couldn’t play in the final against Arsenal in Paris three years ago so this will be a first for me.
'And what a first it will be, to be involved in a final with the two best teams in Europe.’
It will be a great final, in his opinion, because it will be a meeting between two sides that share a philosophy for attacking football.
‘English teams are known for being physical,’ he says.
‘But I think Manchester play in a style more similar to us than Chelsea do. They have players who can play beautiful football, so we hope it will be an open game and both sides will be allowed to play in a great final.
‘I can’t really see any weaknesses in United. I don’t see any weaknesses when I look at Barcelona either.
'The key is to play to the best of your ability and not look for weaknesses that are probably not even there.
‘If you try to find a weakness in the Manchester United team you might be looking a very long time.
‘I am confident and I believe in my own ability. English defences are very tough but if we play as we know we can then we are confident. It’s not just about me.
‘I enjoy a great chemistry with Titi (Henry) and Samuel (Eto’o) and we know we need to be at the very top to beat Manchester United.’
Especially when Ronaldo will be playing for the opposition.
