From the publisher:
'I have seen the player who will inherit my place in Argentine football and his name is Messi' Diego Maradona
FULLY UPDATED TO INCLUDE THE 2022 WORLD CUP TRIUMPH & MESSI'S TRANSFER TO INTER MIAMI
As Lionel Messi raised the World Cup triumphantly into the air, the world watched on in awe. Messi's final peak conquered; his final dream achieved. It was the fairy tale ending to a glittering career.
Yet despite delivering Argentina their third World Cup, Messi's time at Paris Saint-Germain came to a dramatic conclusion, and Miami awaited the Argentinian legend. Guillem Balague has had unprecedented access to Messi's inner circle including the player himself: his coaches, team-mates and family. From tracing the origins of Messi's precocious talent in Rosario, Argentina, to chronicling his peerless seventeen-season career at Barcelona, and his tumultuous Parisian adventure, Guillem takes us behind-the-scenes of Messi's World Cup triumph and his long-desired move to the MLS.
This is an epic, authoritative and compelling account of an enigmatic footballing genius. 'I can tell my grandkids one day that I coached Lionel Messi' Pep Guardiola
The author:
Guillem Balague is a Spanish football journalist, prizewinning author and pundit, first for Sky Sports and now for BBC Radio 5 Live. He is the author of A SEASON ON THE BRINK - A PORTRAIT OF RAFA BENITEZ'S LIVERPOOL (2006); the first biography of PEP GUARDIOLA (2012); MESSI (2013); CRISTIANO RONALDO (2015), the Football Book of the Year at the Cross Sports Book Awards; and the bestselling Brave New World - INSIDE POCHETTINO'S SPURS (2017). He is chairman of non-league Biggleswade FC, and lives in Hitchin in Hertfordshire.
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