After that criticism flooded in. People said Messi isn’t Argentine enough, doesn’t play half as good for the national team as he plays for his club, not as great as Maradona and so on. Somehow, all the criticism felt personal and it made me support him even more.

Next thing I knew, I was following Barcelona, the club Messi played for. I started keeping tabs on their matches in the LaLiga and how many goals Messi scored. In the next four years I became a Barcelona supporter and a diehard fan of Messi.

I remember how competitive the Spanish League was back then. Losing even a single match meant losing the top position. Moreover, the nail-biting El Clasicos between Barcelona and Real Madrid went right on the nerve.