Lionel Messi The World's Greatest Soccer Player As You've Never Seen Him Before

           When you are the world’s most famous athlete, it’s very hard for anyone to walk a mile in your shoes. And on a planet that is being brought closer together by technology, cable television and games broadcast to your phone anywhere, it is readily apparent to anyone within range of a satellite that Lionel Messi is the world’s most famous athlete.
           To be the world’s most famous athlete is to belong to its inhabitants. No longer can you walk down a street in any country without heads turning, without a well-meaning, yet manic person shouting for your attention. We ask Messi what would be the first thing he would do if he could be invisible for one day. He simply replies, “I don’t know, since it’s impossible, and I don’t think about impossible things.”
           Yet each season, Messi seems to make the impossible possible on the pitch. Standing 5-foot-7, he is not the prototype of today’s modern athlete bred to go stronger, faster, higher. But his athleticism is undeniable and his creativity on the pitch is unparalleled.
           Folklore states that Messi was brought to the attention of FC Barcelona at the age of 11 by relatives who lived in Spain. After arranging a tryout with the team, Barcelona legend Carles Rexach, with no paper available to him, sketched out a contract for Messi on a napkin. True? “I don’t remember,” Messi says. “The newspapers keep on writing it. A lot of things have been said about me, and most of them are invented. I am a normal person and I don’t like that people invent things about me. I’d like to be judged only as a football player.”
          Through his achievements on the pitch, he is clearly the best soccer player in the world. But Messi has begun to accumulate evidence that he may one day be considered the best player of all time. In 2008, he led the Argentina under-23 team to the Olympic gold medal. He has won four consecutive Ballon d’Or awards, awarded to world’s best soccer player each year—a feat no other athlete has ever accomplished. At age 24, he became FC Barcelona’s all-time leading goal scorer. At 25, he was the youngest player ever to score 200 career goals in La Liga. His teams have won six La Liga championships and three UEFA Champions League titles. And he just turned 26.
           Despite the success, it’s clear that Messi wants to remain true to himself, to be comfortable in his skin. To just be “Leo.” It’s part of the reason why he feels his collaboration with Dolce & Gabbana has been a great success. “I like them a lot,” he says. “I identify very much with their style. It’s very important the quality of the clothes that I wear. And at the same time it is essential to feel at ease. This is a crucial point. That's why I chose Dolce & Gabbana. The elegance and style are complementary to comfort. In fact, I had already worn this brand before meeting them. I often go to the store in Barcelona, and that’s why I was very happy to become their spokesperson. I think that their clothes perfectly match to my style.”
           Occasionally, Messi will dress up for the big event. But for every day life, he continues to stretch the boundaries of the possible without succumbing to the trappings of success. “I like to wear fashionable clothes very much, but I want to be comfortable—jeans and t-shirt, nothing too extravagant, at least for my daily life.”
            On the rare occasions where Messi does step out onto his very public platform as the World’s Most Famous Athlete, he will do so on behalf of his foundation. “All of the themes of the Leo Messi Foundation are oriented towards childhood problems and children’s vulnerability,” he says.
           The rest of the time, he would prefer to be seen as a man just like any other. One who enjoys eating whatever he would like to eat. One who enjoys watching his favorite sport on television. And once he steps on the field, and the world stops what they are doing for two hours to watch him play a sport in a way no one has before him, it’s ok to think that maybe, just maybe, he’s different than the rest of us.