We all know Messi has infinite magic in his left foot. However, not many of us are aware that ‘La Pulga’ also possesses some hypnotic verbal abilities.
FC Barcelona’s Paulinho has recently revealed in an interview with El Periódico that a few words uttered by Messi were enough to prevent him from taking a free kick in an international friendly against Messi’s Argentina.
Last summer, Brazilian international Paulinho signed for FC Barcelona coming from China’s Guangzhou Evergrande.
Shortly before that, however, Brazil and Argentina disputed a friendly match in Melbourne, Australia.
A spellbound Paulinho helplessly observes Lionel Messi Photo: @okezonenews | Twitter
Over 95,000 fans attended the Melbourne Cricket Ground to witness the clash between two of the furthermost powerhouses in soccer history.
Back then, Argentina was on the brink of not qualifying to the World Cup while Brazil were absolutely dominating the South American qualifiers.
Argentina were leading the game 1-0 with a Gabriel Mercado goal.
Brazil were given a dangerous-looking free kick that would have meant the equalizer.
Paulinho, who had not yet been officially signed or even contacted by Barcelona, was about to take the free-kick.
But in that moment, sneaky magician Lionel Messi appeared and cast a spell on him.
How did he manage to do it?
Seven words sufficed for Messi to get Paulinho nervous enough not to take the free-kick.
Messi approached Paulinho from behind and uttered: “¿Vamos para Barcelona o no?” (“Are we going to Barcelona or not?”).
Paulinho then answered: “If you want to take me, you can do it. I’ll go”.
Afterwards, the Brazilian international was so shaky we was simply unable to take the free-kick.
He then said to Willian: “You take it!”.
Brazil ultimately lost the match 1-0.
At the end of the game, Paulinho exchanged jerseys with Messi.
@Football5star | Twitter
A few weeks later, he had signed for Barcelona and became teammate of the world’s greatest player.
Would you get all nervous if Messi whispered something in your ear?
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