PSG-Barça: between Icardi and Rafinha, a long friendship story from the Masia

The status of a football star does not prevent nostalgia from appearing.

During our interview with Rafinha, the PSG midfielder, we asked him about his years at La Masia, the training center of FC Barcelona.

“I learned almost everything there.

I have a lot of affection for this period ”, proclaimed the Brazilian, with a smile, thinking of this blessed period of adolescence.

At Barça since 2006, Rafael Alcantara, brother of Thiago, sees a certain Mauro Icardi land in 2008, from a small club in the Canary Islands, where the Argentinian is spotted.

Then aged 15, the two men, born a week apart in February 1993, are getting closer.

“In class, we were always seated together, remembered Rafinha in front of the cameras of TF1 last November.

In computer science, we were at the same table and at that time, we had a somewhat complicated class with a lot of agitators

(smile)

.

"" It was still correct, replied Icardi in the same interview.

For my part, it happened to me to sleep in class… ”Classic memories of schoolchildren, confirmed by a mutual friend.

“Rafa has always been the most joker, laughs Luis Gustavo Ledes, now midfielder of CD Castellon (Spanish D2).

Anecdotes?

Like those of all middle school students…

(laughs)

What I can say is that we all got along well, that we had a lot of fun, that we were together all the time.

I miss this atmosphere, they were good years ”.

Establishing a friendship with his teammates at the training center is not easy, however.

In Barça as elsewhere, the environment is described by many as tough, where you have to fight for your place.

With more than twelve years of hindsight, “Gus” Ledes paints a different picture.

“From my point of view, it was not difficult to make friends, even with the competitors,” he says.

On the contrary, if the mood is good, things work better.

Rafa and Mauro have always been friends.

They are two great guys, with heart and generosity.

From the first contact, it worked and it showed on the ground ”.

During two seasons, Rafinha and Icardi cultivate this relationship of friendship and their talent.

The two friends at 16 at Barça. / DR  

But for the Argentinian, the framework is not always easy to respect.

A former teammate says: “When he arrived, we didn't talk much.

But, one day, he comes to me after a phone problem and says:

Hermano (Editor's note: brother), don't you have a cell phone to lend me?

He wanted to talk with his girlfriend in the Canaries.

(laughs)

”In 2016, Icardi himself recognized the difficulties of adapting to this demanding environment, from which Messi, Pique, Xavi or Iniesta emerged.

In 2010, Rafinha pushes Icardi out of Barça

“When you're so young, you feel like you're in prison a bit.

You are constantly watched, said the striker on Italia 1 television. It's a little soldier's life.

They have to manage 70, 80 players and not all of them accept the imposed rules… I was one of them.

"Behavior sometimes pointed out outside and a change in style of play at Barça, undertaken by Pep Guardiola in 2008, come to the end of Icardi's adventure in Catalonia.

The most surprising ?

It is Rafinha, a midfielder used as a false number 9 by Oscar Garcia, passed by Saint-Etienne (2017), who takes the place of his friend on the field and pushes him towards the exit in 2010. This event did not offend their relationships.

“Between the players, it always went well, remembers the Cameroonian goalkeeper Yannick Amadou, former partner at Masia.

We receive football training but above all human.

There was a moment in the life of football and a moment in real life.

We really liked going for a walk, going to the movies… It did us good.

"

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Icardi finally finds his happiness at Sampdoria in Genoa and then at Inter while Rafinha continues his apprenticeship at Barça.

In 2018, they meet in Milan for a six-month loan for the Brazilian.

Today, here they are together at PSG.

On the verge of eliminating Barça in the Champions League.