Mauricio Pochettino considers it a criminal offence to forget playing against Lionel Messi — like he did — because it is something Harry Kane and Co should tell their grandchildren about.
Ahead of Tottenham’s Champions League clash, Pochettino was told he was on the pitch when Messi made his Barcelona debut as a 17-year-old in October 2004.
Yet the former Espanyol defender was none the wiser about facing his compatriot 14 years ago this month. Now, the Spurs manager fears Messi could make himself unforgettable at Wembley.
Back then, Messi was simply the latest kid off the Barcelona conveyor belt. On Wednesday, he faces Tottenham as a five-time Ballon d’Or winner who Pochettino believes can be ‘impossible’ to stop.
‘I don’t remember!’ Pochettino said about facing Messi in 2004, before denying he does not recall playing against the Barcelona maestro because he had him in his back pocket.
‘Messi would become a great player but in the moment he made his debut, it was like just another youngster that had arrived to the Barcelona team from the academy.
‘It was like Xavi or [Andres] Iniesta or [Ivan] de la Pena. It was an explosion of, wow, excitement, when Ivan de la Pena started to play. He was ‘The Little Buddha’.
‘When de la Pena started to play in the first team, it was massive. But look, you say to me, ‘You played in Messi’s debut’. No, I don’t remember.’
So how does he plan to stop him? ‘I am not going to try to find a solution,’ Pochettino admitted. ‘I am going to say to the players, “Enjoy playing against Messi”.
‘You are going to have the opportunity to play against one of the best players in the history of football and more than worrying you, that needs to excite you to play.
‘So you can say — like you say to me — “Oh, I played against Messi” or “I played against [Diego] Maradona” or “I played against Ronaldo”. This is the type of player that you are going to remember.
‘For your ego, it’s a thing that you are going to tell your kids and grandkids. Sometimes, my kids say to me, “Ah, you played with Maradona, you played with this or you play with that”. And they are so proud. So enjoy. Enjoy playing against Messi.’
Pochettino never got to call Messi a team-mate, though the two came close to crossing paths more than once.
They both started their careers at Newell’s Old Boys but never met. Messi joined the Argentine club’s youth set-up in 1994 – the same year Pochettino left for La Liga side Espanyol.
Ten years later, with Messi yet to properly break through at Barcelona, a transfer to Espanyol was lined up. Just before putting pen to paper, the teenager impressed in a pre-season tournament called the Joan Gamper Cup, prompting Barca to pull the plug on the move.
Pochettino cannot help but wonder what could have been. He later took over as head coach of Espanyol and might never have left if he had the pleasure of managing Messi.
‘They kept Messi at Barcelona,’ Pochettino said. ‘So if you look back in history, maybe if he did not play in the Joan Gamper in that summer, maybe today he could have been the biggest star in Espanyol. Maybe me, I would have still been in Espanyol managing him!’
The alternative — to be stood on the Wembley touchline and managing Tottenham in the Champions League — is not a bad consolation prize.
He claims he has not put together any specific plans to stop Messi and said: ‘It’s difficult to find solutions to try to stop him, I promise you. I think it’s impossible.
‘It’s only to enjoy it, to be close, to help the players that are going to face him. When you have the ball, try to have possession, to play in the opposite half, to try to push Leo to play far from your goal. If not, it’s terrible if he is close and takes the ball.’