Leo Messi Stated That His Father Was Very Excited About the Princess of Asturias Award for Sports

The award for Lionel Messi

Argentine footballer Lionel Messi said Thursday that his father, who passed away on August 8, was "very excited" about the Princess of Asturias Award for Sports, which he will collect tomorrow Friday in Oviedo at a ceremony presided over by the King and Queen of Spain.

In an interview with EFE at the Hotel de la Reconquista in Oviedo, Messi spoke about the values of commitment, respect and solidarity that are part of the legacy his father left him.

His father, Jorge, was "very happy" about an award that goes "beyond what one does on the pitch" or what he has done throughout his career, so "he will surely be enjoying it too."

Precisely because of the "meaning" of this award, his father insisted that he had to travel to the Asturian capital to collect it, even though they knew it could be "difficult" due to the matches he has with his current team, Inter Miami.

Messi stressed that the values his parents instilled in him at home are the same ones he now tries to pass on, together with his wife Antonela, to his three children.

On a personal level, the World champion with Argentina in 2022 said he felt "very excited," "very happy" and "very grateful" for this recognition, and assured that he knows its "meaning" after living more than twenty years in Spain.

Messi, who was awaited by hundreds of fans at the hotel doors, many of them Argentine, as he himself noted, also highlighted the values instilled in him at Barcelona, the club of his "life."

"When you're there, it's not just about playing football; football is a consequence of many things that have to be done, many responsibilities one has before going to train or to play," he reflected on his training at Barcelona.

You train as you play

Asked about the pursuit of excellence, Messi stressed that "you train as you play are not just words" and admitted that in his case he doesn't like losing "not even the short training games."

"Since I was little" he was "very competitive" in order to "try to win, grow and keep improving" because that is "the path," said the Rosario-born player, who believes that "training is for growing" and "then arriving at competition with the best tools."

Regarding his charitable work through the SJD Pediatric Cancer Center Barcelona for children with cancer or donations for the dana or the fires last summer in the west of Madrid, he said that he and his family always try to collaborate and help where they can.

Messi, who assured that he tries to stay informed about what is happening in the world, said that today much more is known about these issues through the media, but assured that he has done it before "without anyone finding out" because he didn't need to and "one does it from the heart because one feels it."

Lionel Messi was worthy of this year's Princess of Sports Award for his "dazzling talent" and his "exceptional sporting career," but also for "his formidable and continued charitable work to promote access to education and health care for the most disadvantaged children," according to the jury's assessment.

In recent editions, this award went to American tennis player Serena Williams; Spanish badminton player Carolina Marín; Kenyan athlete Eliud Kipchoge; the Olympic Foundation for Refugees and the Refugee Olympic Team; Spanish swimmer Teresa Perales; Spanish driver Carlos Sainz; American skier Lindsey Vonn; mountaineers Reinhold Messner (Italian) and Krzysztof Wielicki (Polish), and the New Zealand men's rugby team, known as the 'All Blacks'. EFE

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