Lionel Messi’s years with Argentina under Alejandro Sabella are remembered for a World Cup final and a return to the game’s biggest stage, but former assistant Julián Camino has offered a different view of that cycle: a captain who made the national team’s Ezeiza base feel shared by everyone inside it.
Messi’s gestures at the Argentina training base
Camino, who worked on Sabella’s staff between 2011 and 2014, said Messi regularly looked beyond the squad when Argentina gathered at the AFA complex in Ezeiza. He recalled gifts, prize draws and an insistence that staff members should benefit alongside the players when rewards were divided.
- Messi would ask how many employees worked at the base.
- On one occasion, after being told there were 40 staff members, he bought 20 motorbikes for a draw.
- Camino said female employees who had previously travelled by bus later arrived on their own motorbikes.
- When 20 people had won, Messi reportedly arranged another trip or reward for those who had missed out.
“He helped the people working at the AFA base a great deal,” Camino said. “There were presents and draws, and he was always involved. He was the same when prize money was shared.”
A captain inside the group
Camino also described Messi as someone who brought coaching staff into the daily life of the squad rather than maintaining distance because of his status. He said the players would seek out members of Sabella’s team on flights to join card games of truco.
Camino said he, Claudio Gugnali and Sabella were invited to take part, recalling a dressing-room and travel routine in which Messi remained closely connected to those around him.
“We enjoyed having Messi with us,” Camino said. “Even though he was the best player in the world, he never created barriers. He backed us and never pushed us aside because of our shortcomings. He was always driving things forward.”
The road to the 2014 World Cup final
Sabella’s Argentina ended a 28-year wait to reach a World Cup final when they progressed in Brazil in 2014. Their run included victory over Belgium in the quarter-finals before the semi-final was secured, but Germany ultimately won the tournament.
For Camino, that campaign also left a personal memento from Messi. He asked for the captain’s shirt from the match in which Argentina reached the semi-finals against Belgium. Messi left it in the dressing room after the game, and signed it for Camino a few days later.
- Camino had the signed shirt framed.
- He kept it at a country property in Argentina.
- The shirt was stolen several years later.
The loss of the shirt did not erase the memory of a period in which Argentina returned to a World Cup final, or Camino’s portrait of Messi as a figure who made room for staff as readily as he did for team-mates.
