Lionel Messi revealed that he fears speaking English should he make a mistake – but admitted he can understand almost all of the language.
The Argentinian superstar moved to the United States last year to sign for Inter Miami and during an appearance on “Dispuestos a Todo” (Ready for Anything), the YouTube show hosted by his nephew, Tomás Messi, the 36-year-old said he’s gradually started to speak English more.
He coupled the revelation by admitting he understands almost all of the language but has held back speaking publicly due to fears of making mistakes but the move to Miami has seemingly increased Messi’s confidence in delving more into the English language.
“The truth is that I understand everything or almost everything, Little by little I am starting to speak more,” the football icon remarked. “I think it’s about daring to speak in English. Sometimes out of embarrassment or fear of making mistakes, I don’t speak, but I think I could already start speaking quite well.”
The normally-shy Messi spoke on a myriad of topics to his cousin and his two other co-hosts including the genesis of his relationship with his wife Antonella Rocuzzo, who he met as a child in their native Argentina, but later lost contact with her following his move to Spain.
Messi explained: “I used to go to her house because of her cousin and that’s where I met her, when we were very young. I always liked her. Then at 13 years old I went to Spain and we kind of lost contact. Communication was much more difficult than now.
“It was through letters, emails or some international phone calls which were expensive. So we stopped talking and distanced ourselves a lot. At 16 or 17 years old we reconnected; communication was much easier with messenger, we chatted there.
“We got closer again; we hadn’t lost that feeling we had as kids; nothing had changed. At 19 or 20 years old we started dating.” The pair finally got married in 2017 and share three sons, Thiago, 12, Mateo, 9, and Ciro, 6.
Considering his other-worldly talent when it comes to football, it’s certainly a surprise to hear when Lionel Messi isn’t unbelievably proficient in another sport, but that’s exactly what he admitted when it comes to padel.
“I’m not good at padel,” he revealed. “I like playing it, although I don’t play much, but I try my best. I run a lot; I don’t give up on any ball, but when it comes to hitting it, I’m not technical or anything; I just try to return it.
“It often happens that I go confidently to the net and end up hitting it out or missing the ball entirely, but it’s fun and enjoyable.
During training camps we spend a lot of time playing it along with pool, cards, and spending time in the best possible way.
“Not so much now but before we used to play a lot.” Messi will look to lead Argentina to back-to-back Copa America titles as their campaign got off to a good start on Friday (June 20) when they defeated Canada 2-0.
