{"id":294806,"date":"2023-11-09T23:25:25","date_gmt":"2023-11-09T23:25:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/?p=294806"},"modified":"2023-11-09T23:25:25","modified_gmt":"2023-11-09T23:25:25","slug":"messi-meets-zidane-at-inter-miami-for-a-career-spanning-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/soccer\/messi-meets-zidane-at-inter-miami-for-a-career-spanning-interview\/","title":{"rendered":"Messi meets Zidane at Inter Miami for a career-spanning interview"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Lionel Messi meets Zinedine Zidane at Inter Miami for a career-spanning interview &#8211; as the Real Madrid legend tells Barcelona&#8217;s greatest star: &#8216;I wish we played together&#8217;<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Lionel Messi and Zinedine Zidane briefly crossed paths in La Liga<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>But they were never once teammates in their gilded careers\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Man Utd are NOT good enough to have a ball-playing keeper &#8211; It&#8217;s All Kicking Off<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Lionel Messi and Zinedine Zidane have sat down for an extended conversation, with the Frenchman telling the Inter Miami star that it&#8217;s a &#8216;pity&#8217; that they never lined up together.<\/p>\n<p>Zidane took in a Miami game back in September, as he was reunited with former Real Madrid teammate (and Miami co-owner) David Beckham.<\/p>\n<p>But the ex-Juventus and Madrid star never got the chance to play with Messi &#8211; something he apparently now regrets.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;It&#8217;s a pity that we couldn&#8217;t play together,&#8217; he said in the chat facilitated by\u00a0adidas. &#8216;This is the moment for me to pass you the ball.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>He added at a different point, &#8216;Today is a very important day for me because I can tell him how much I admire him&#8230; I think it is magic, pure magic.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/09\/17\/77615019-12731053-Zinedine_Zidane_and_Lionel_Messi_sat_down_for_a_conversation_org-a-27_1699550306671.jpg\" height=\"305\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Zinedine Zidane and Lionel Messi sat down for a conversation organized by adidas<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/09\/17\/77614749-12731053-image-a-28_1699550395238.jpg\" height=\"474\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Messi attempts to tackle Zidane in a 2005 game between Barcelona and Real Madrid<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/youtube.com\/watch?v=CQ8wOnnZiEg%3Frel%3D0<\/p>\n<p>Messi returned the praise, saying,&#8217; I have always admired him and liked him a lot. I followed him a lot in Madrid. And he made made me suffer a lot too because I was from Barcelona.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>The pair later exchanged signed Argentina and France shirts.<\/p>\n<p>Zidane played for Los Blancos from 2001-06, while Messi debuted for Barcelona&#8217;s first team in 2004 and spent 17 years at the club.<\/p>\n<p>The pair faced off in El Clasico in 2005, while Messi also frequently went against Zidane as a coach.<\/p>\n<p>The 51-year-old was the manager of Madrid from 2019-21.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Argentine also spoke about the late Diego Maradona, who he looked up to as a kid.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/09\/17\/77617159-12731053-image-a-30_1699552703027.jpg\" height=\"372\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Zidane and Messi exchanged signed international shirts at the end of the conversation<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/09\/18\/77617603-12731053-image-a-31_1699553529406.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Antonela Roccuzzo and Lionel Messi with sons Thiago, Mateo and Circo at the Ballon d &#8216;Or 2023 Ceremony<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;During our whole lives, those of us who grew up playing football wanted to be like him,&#8217; he said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Although no one was able to be like him, that was our dream and desire, and try to copy what Maradona did.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>And bringing things back to the present, Messi discussed how his sons Thiago, 11, Mateo, 8 and Ciro, 5, are already obsessed with the sport.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;My children love it. The three of them love it. They are passionate about football,&#8217; he said. &#8216;The three of them, all day long.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/i\/pix\/2017\/08\/02\/636x90_facebook_ad_sport.png\" width=\"636\" height=\"90\"><br \/>\nSource: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/football\/article-12731053\/Lionel-Messi-meets-Zinedine-Zidane-Inter-Miami-career-spanning-interview-Real-Madrid-legend-tells-Barcelonas-greatest-star-wish-played-together.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>Lionel Messi meets Zinedine Zidane at Inter Miami for a career-spanning interview &#8211; as the Real Madrid legend tells Barcelona&#8217;s greatest star: &#8216;I wish we <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/soccer\/messi-meets-zidane-at-inter-miami-for-a-career-spanning-interview\/\" title=\"Messi meets Zidane at Inter Miami for a career-spanning interview\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":294805,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Messi meets Zidane at Inter Miami for a career-spanning interview - Sportstoft<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/soccer\/messi-meets-zidane-at-inter-miami-for-a-career-spanning-interview\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Messi meets Zidane at Inter Miami for a career-spanning interview - Sportstoft\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Lionel Messi meets Zinedine Zidane at Inter Miami for a career-spanning interview &#8211; as the Real Madrid legend tells Barcelona&#8217;s greatest star: &#8216;I wish we [...]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/soccer\/messi-meets-zidane-at-inter-miami-for-a-career-spanning-interview\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sportstoft\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-11-09T23:25:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jeanette\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Messi-meets-Zidane-at-Inter-Miami-for-a-career-spanning-interview.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jeanette\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/soccer\/messi-meets-zidane-at-inter-miami-for-a-career-spanning-interview\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/soccer\/messi-meets-zidane-at-inter-miami-for-a-career-spanning-interview\/\",\"name\":\"Messi meets Zidane at Inter Miami for a career-spanning interview - Sportstoft\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-11-09T23:25:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-11-09T23:25:25+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74db1979fe71b5ea01513ec1ce5bc609\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/soccer\/messi-meets-zidane-at-inter-miami-for-a-career-spanning-interview\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/soccer\/messi-meets-zidane-at-inter-miami-for-a-career-spanning-interview\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/soccer\/messi-meets-zidane-at-inter-miami-for-a-career-spanning-interview\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Soccer\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/category\/soccer\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Messi meets Zidane at Inter Miami for a career-spanning interview\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/\",\"name\":\"Sportstoft\",\"description\":\"sportstoft.com\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74db1979fe71b5ea01513ec1ce5bc609\",\"name\":\"Jeanette\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7cef2e0d8d634cb49d54f7c48b549a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7cef2e0d8d634cb49d54f7c48b549a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jeanette\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Messi meets Zidane at Inter Miami for a career-spanning interview - Sportstoft","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/soccer\/messi-meets-zidane-at-inter-miami-for-a-career-spanning-interview\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Messi meets Zidane at Inter Miami for a career-spanning interview - Sportstoft","og_description":"Lionel Messi meets Zinedine Zidane at Inter Miami for a career-spanning interview &#8211; as the Real Madrid legend tells Barcelona&#8217;s greatest star: &#8216;I wish we [...]","og_url":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/soccer\/messi-meets-zidane-at-inter-miami-for-a-career-spanning-interview\/","og_site_name":"Sportstoft","article_published_time":"2023-11-09T23:25:25+00:00","author":"Jeanette","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_image":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Messi-meets-Zidane-at-Inter-Miami-for-a-career-spanning-interview.jpg","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jeanette","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/soccer\/messi-meets-zidane-at-inter-miami-for-a-career-spanning-interview\/","url":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/soccer\/messi-meets-zidane-at-inter-miami-for-a-career-spanning-interview\/","name":"Messi meets Zidane at Inter Miami for a career-spanning interview - Sportstoft","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-11-09T23:25:25+00:00","dateModified":"2023-11-09T23:25:25+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74db1979fe71b5ea01513ec1ce5bc609"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/soccer\/messi-meets-zidane-at-inter-miami-for-a-career-spanning-interview\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/soccer\/messi-meets-zidane-at-inter-miami-for-a-career-spanning-interview\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/soccer\/messi-meets-zidane-at-inter-miami-for-a-career-spanning-interview\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Soccer","item":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/category\/soccer\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Messi meets Zidane at Inter Miami for a career-spanning interview"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/","name":"Sportstoft","description":"sportstoft.com","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74db1979fe71b5ea01513ec1ce5bc609","name":"Jeanette","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7cef2e0d8d634cb49d54f7c48b549a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7cef2e0d8d634cb49d54f7c48b549a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jeanette"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294806"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=294806"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294806\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/294805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=294806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=294806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=294806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}