30 years after Messi’s first official goal at Newell’s: the memory of the improvised goalkeeper who suffered Pulga’s first exploits

April 9, 1994 is not just any date Lionel Andrés Messi. Leo may not remember, but this Tuesday marks the 30th anniversary of first “official” goal. of the Flea. She did it by playing for Newell’s and before Paul VI University. The result was 6-0 and the world champion won that day Qatar 2022 he scored four goals.

“That afternoon the goalkeeper failed to save and I was sent away. My father and mother say that when I was little I often took shortcuts. So yes: I am the first goalkeeper against whom Messi has scored a goal“, he says smiling Federico Guillermo Canothe boy who signed the form with the number 1 of the Ateneo Pablo VI on April 9, 1994.

The record you accessed Clarion It is jealously guarded by the authorities of the Rosarina League. “Our archives are enormous. Imagine playing 25,000 games a year and each one has a scoresheet. But let’s separate all of Leo’s because one day they could be part of a museum or could even be left as a memento for his family.”says the president of the Football Federation Rosarina, Mario Giammaria.

The sheet of Messi’s debut in 1994 retains the details and good handwriting of the delegates of Newell’s and of Paul VI. Leo announces himself in eighth place and with card number 99,231. Pulga signed the form as Lionel, in capital letters, and scored her first poker goal. The duel started at 4pm and two halves of 15 minutes each were played. The referee who first signaled a goal by Leo was Sergio Pepio.

Time has passed and 30 years have passed since that day when it all began. Messi’s story is well known to the extreme. Also goals scored in Newell’s Children’s League, between 1994 and 1999: 234 goals in 176 gamesaccording to an investigation by journalist Carlos Durhand, of the newspaper The capital.

But, What happened to the life of Federico Guillermo Cano, the first of the goalkeepers defeated by Messi?

“That day I saved because our goalkeeper had a fever and they sent him home. The truth is that I only remember that in a couple of games I went in goal because I liked it and in training I wore gloves. My mother Alvia and my father Benito say they remember everything. “One of my brothers claims that Messi scored all my goals from outside the box.”says Cano Clarion.

The court of Paul VI University, where Messi scored his first goals, no longer exists: the club has moved to Boulevard Seguí y Garzón. As in almost all large cities in Argentina, concrete and technology were destroying the pastures. Now, in the place where Leo celebrated for the first time, the building of Catholic University of Rosario. “Here was Baby’s yard and in front, where the supermarket is, there was 11’s”says Cano from the corner of Avenida Pellegrini and Crespo.

“Having played against Messi is an honor. Newell’s Category 87 was impressive. They told him ‘Machine’. It was my turn to mark Leo because I played almost all of Inferiori as a left-back. I must have kicked him. What my family never forgets is the football I gave to Fideo Di María, one afternoon when we played against Rosario Central. It’s a 1988 category, but since he was so good they promoted him to 87. My old man says I made him fly six feet in the air., Cano recalls. And he clarifies: “Both Leo and Ángel were unstoppable at the age of 7”.

Cano’s football career was frustrated by a motorbike accident: he spent two years recovering from a serious femur fracture. “I focused on finishing high school and then started working”it is specified.

He worked for eight years in a motorcycle factory and then went to a cereal factory which would mark him. “We suffered an explosion and a colleague died”, explains Cano. The accident occurred in December 2017 at the former cereal company’s premises. Nidera from the city of Puerto General San Martín, on the outskirts of Rosario. Currently, the goalkeeper who conceded Messi’s first official goal drives a forklift to load and unload at the company. Sika.

Over time and through one of his sons, Ciro, 8 years old, Cano returned to football. “I’ll help out as an assistant in the 2015 category. Next year I’d like to do the teacher course”Matías and Morena’s father also dreams.

Other witnesses of an unforgettable day

Mattia Greco He is another of the guys who played in that inaugural match in 1994: he moved as a left attacking midfielder in Pablo VI and in many passes he had to mark Messi, who was already playing lying down on the right. “I recorded in my head all the goals Messi scored against us. We played twice a year, plus summer tournaments. Newell’s A of the 1987 category marked an era in Rosario. From what I remember of those years, the only team that managed to draw every now and then was Tiro Suizo. You entered the field knowing you would lose by a landslide. They played you mercilessly and scored all the goals they could.”recalls Greco, who is currently the physical trainer of Soharof the First Division of Omanthe oldest independent state in the Arab world.

And he adds: “Leo didn’t like losing anything. Once he missed a penalty against us and I still have his emotional expression on his face. I later came close to forming a team with him in 1997, when we were invited to represent the Rosario national team in a tournament in the United States. But Leo couldn’t go for economic reasons.”.

Agostino Luli Ruani He ran alongside Messi in his debut in April 1994. “Leo and I went to the same school for a couple of years and then we played a lot at Newell’s. We shared a lot of things. We even celebrated some birthdays together because we were only six days apart.”says Ruani from Rosario. And expand: “Leo scoring four goals seemed natural to us. I thought the same thing happened with other boys from other clubs. Only when you grow up do you start to appreciate what you already were at 6 years old.”.

Ruani, who works at the Autodromo Comunale, was a fundamental part of ‘La Macchina’ which caused a sensation on the Rosario pastures. “There was an internal rule according to which you couldn’t score more than 6 or 7 goals. So many matches ended early because we achieved those goals in the first half”accounts.

An authorized voice to talk about the young Messi is Enrico DominguezSebastián’s father, who directed Leo in Leprosy in 1998. “I remember that I was about to stop working at Newell’s because I wanted to accompany my children more in their profession. I had already decided. But one afternoon in November or December Sergio Almirón called me to tell me that he would give me the Leo category, I had to stay longer a year to direct it”ensures Quique.

And goes on: “Newell’s 87 category had a great team, but there was a kid who played 100 times more than everyone else: Messi. He made a huge difference in coordination and ball handling. He is striking with his simplicity and respect for everyone. I never challenged him. And I can’t boast of having taught him anything because he was touched by the magic wand. “When I was little I already knew everything.”.

The stories come out Quiquewho saw several kids pass before his eyes with crack and cocaine in Lower Newell’s, like Gustavo Rodi AND Massimiliano Rodriguez. “The people who went to see the minor categories stayed to see Messi. Maybe it took four hours to see it. It was a pleasure”says Domínguez. and closes at pure emotion: “No one gets anywhere in life alone. And Leo was fortunate to have coaches who protected him. I admit that I protected Leo’s dream“.

Thus 30 years have passed since Messi’s first “official” goal at Newell’s. Then they would arrive by the thousands, of different values, with different shirts and different goalkeepers. But there is Federico Guillermo Cano, that boy who, by fate, managed to save Pulga’s debut on the court of Pablo VI that afternoon. AND It has a story trapped in its hands that is impossible to match.: After all, he is and will always be the first goalkeeper against whom Lionel Andrés Messi scored a goal.