On video: World Cup championship celebrations in Argentina/photo: Reuters
"Messi's World Cup - The Rise of a Legend", a new film that aired today (Wednesday) on AppleTV, reveals rare footage of Leo Messi and the Argentina national team from the World Cup in Qatar, and provides a behind-the-scenes look at the exciting achievement and the powerful World Cup win, which closed a circle for the star The great and his name marks his being one of the greatest footballers in history, if not the greatest.
The film photographers who followed the national team closely, collected dozens of documents from the dressing room and the hotel where the players were staying, interviewed Messi and the heroes of the victory before, during and after the tournament, and the result looks quite exciting.
In one of the segments, Messi is seen telling about the different attitude he adopted for himself upon his arrival at the tournament. "I knew almost for sure that this would be my last World Cup, and I decided that I wanted to make the most of it.
Not only on the field, but also - perhaps mainly - off it.
To enjoy with the team members the time together, the card games, the slow meetings at the hotel.
It was very important for me to put things in the right proportions, and to let myself have fun," says Messi, with a stormy card game played by the national team's players in the background.
"God is the only one who determines our fate.
What is written in the sky is what will happen," says Messi. "Throughout my career I chased the World Cup.
Winning it was one of my biggest dreams.
And after I won it, I remembered the beginning, the child I was.
All in all, a little boy from Rosario who likes to play football."
In another segment of the film, during the celebrations of the victory in Argentina, Angel Di Maria is seen hugging Messi with tears in his eyes.
"I wanted to win the World Cup for him. At some point, we all felt that we were doing it more for him than for us. I wanted him to win the World Cup, because he is certainly the greatest player in history," says Di Maria, one of the heroes of the victory.
Emi Martinez, another Argentinian hero, said that "after the final, Leo came up to us and said, 'Thank you for helping me make my dream come true.'
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Argentina national team