A few days ago, the 76-year-old former Argentina national team coach Jose Pekerman revealed at a summit hosted by "Ole" that Messi was almost called up by Spain U20 and missed the Argentina team.

Pekerman elaborated: "When I left the national team, the coaching staff was taken over by Tokali. I often traveled to Europe for inspections to update the knowledge base. We had information about Messi in Spain - he had played for Spain in the U17 championship held in Finland. The Spanish coaching staff I sighed, "If we had this young man, we would have won the championship already." I was deeply shocked by Tokali and believed that he was a future superstar. He was a natural treasure of Argentine football. "

It should be noted that if a player represents a country's youth team, FIFA will prohibit him from playing for other countries. The former coach revealed: "At that time, Messi (18 years old) had prepared all the documents to represent Spain in the U20 World Cup. We had to race against time, so we launched a special operation."

He continued to recall: "Tokali was He said that the U20 South American Championship will start in a month, and the lineup has been determined. I asked him, "Now tell me what to do if there is a talented boy." I emphasized that there is no need to let him participate unless necessary, just play a friendly match to complete the registration with FIFA. Once it takes shape, Spain will have no chance to take advantage of it. "

When talking about the Chairman of the Argentine Football Association, Pekerman revealed: "I told Chairman Grondona to immediately find any opponent for the warm-up match, and Tokali will follow up throughout the whole process, but there is a condition - the game must be held. It must be held at the home court of Atletico Argentina. After all, that is where Maradona once played... "

In the end, Messi wore the blue and white jersey as Pekerman wished and played in that friendly match, and Argentina beat Paraguay 8-0.