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The Wizard's Apprentice: The Player Who Re-ignites Messi's Fire | Israel today

2020-12-24T13:16:39.759Z


Federy may be skinny and small, but thanks to his game wisdom and creativity, he has found a common language with Flea | World football


If there's a player who can bring out the best in full Messi, it's probably Federy • The 18-year-old may be skinny and small, but thanks to his game wisdom and creativity, he has found a common ground with the flea (did anyone say Iniesta?) • Koeman: "

  • Pedry and Messi celebrate a historic goal against Valladolid

    Photography: 

    GettyImages

The game against Real Valladolid was probably the best in Leo Messi's damn 2020.

A year in which he lost the championship to Real Madrid, snatched the big defeat of his life courtesy of Bayern Munich, and revealed his sincere desire to leave Barcelona after nearly two decades. 

But just before it ends, and only God knows what the God of Football will decide, Messi was interviewed and said that everything is fine and that he is determined to concentrate on the team's tasks.

And really, in front of Sean Weissman's team, number 10 seems to be in the mania phase and not the depression. 

He kicked 11 times for goal, 7 for frame, 2 for beam and also recorded his first cook of the season when raising to the head of Calmon Langela.

For dessert, Messi also scored a historic goal.

His 644 in the Barça uniform - a record for a player at one club, and one more goal than the record held by Pele during his time at Santos.  

When watching this goal over and over again, Messi's accomplice in crime stands out.

Not Antoine Griezmann or Filippa Coutinho sitting on the bench, nor Osman Dembele who was out of the squad - but Federy.

Pedro Gonzalez Lopes in his full name - 18 years old, skinny, modest, cheap.

It was his brilliant heel that arranged for Messi the monumental goal, and the hug the Argentine gave him in return looks and feels like more than just another casual gratitude for a wonderful delivery. 

It seems that Federy, more than any one player on Barça's squad, is doing well for Messi.

Big and many have failed in this task, but the young midfielder has managed to find a common language with Barça's big star.

When they play side by side, you can see how the Argentine is looking for the young Spaniard, and how he manages to get into Messi's head and return an accurate ball to him.

"The connection between Messi and Federy is excellent," testified Ronald Koeman;

"It's natural for Messi to play better with good players around him."

A fateful blizzard

The thing is, there was not much missing so that Pedry would not be around Messi at all.

Although he was born in Tenerife and grew up in a Barcelona - friendly family, at the age of 15 he landed for tests at Real Madrid.

Luckily for Barça, nature intervened just in time.

A blizzard postponed the test practice, and a week later Federy rolled into another team’s practice, with other coaches, and fell between the chairs of the Bernabeu. 

Las Palmas jumped on the bargain, and in the Canary Islands Federry got the stage.

He became the youngest conqueror in the club's history (16 and 9 months) and one of the most important players on Pepe Mel's team, who said of him "he makes everyone else better". 

After close monitoring, Barcelona bought him for five million euros and a few more bonuses, but above the deal hovered the question mark about the skinny boy's ability to play in the senior league.

The delay in his case led to the interest of several teams, including Bayern Munich, but Ronald Koeman vetoed it and declared: "Pedry stays here." 

For someone who grew up on videos of Michael Laudrup and Andres Iniesta, whose grandfather set up the Barcelona fan club in Tenerife and ate plates with the team logo on them, Federry fulfilled a dream.

At first he came in as a replacement, but later - including in the Clásico, which he arrived in a taxi and with the clothes in a super bag - the young contact took a place in the lineup.

"Think faster than everyone else" 

Although he is smaller and thinner than the rest, he quietly and restrainedly brings to Barcelona wisdom and creativity reminiscent of those of Iniesta, who also cooked up a historic goal in the heel - in 2012, when Lau broke Gerd Müller's record for goals in a calendar year. 

"Federy plays with his head because he is not athletic enough," Langela said at the trial that he only compliments in the corridors of the Camp Nou, then added another compliment: "He thinks faster than everyone else, which is why he gets along with Messi the best."

And for the people of Barcelona, ​​this connection is critical - for the present, and for the future.

It seems that if there is a chance that Messi's 2021 year will be less damn than 2020, and still in Barça's uniform, he's in Pedry's skinny legs.

Source: israelhayom

All sports articles on 2020-12-24

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