Eight Ballon D’Or’s and a World Cup didn’t come to Lionel Messi by eating chocolates and drinking cola. But there was a time when he used to do it, and his former coach talks about one such incident that happened the night before the World Cup final.
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“The night before the Under-20 World Cup final against Nigeria, I heard strange noises in the hallway. It was Messi and the Kun Agüero,” said Gerardo Salorio in an interview. “When the elevator door opened, I saw them covered in chocolate up to their necks.
“I didn’t allow eating sweets before the match, but I played dumb. And I’m glad I forgave them. That night we didn’t just win a title: I understood that leadership isn’t always shown through punishments.”
Gerardo Salorio had caught Lionel Messi and Sergio Agüero breaking camp rules red-handed before Argentina’s biggest night in 2005. The two youngsters were late, carrying snacks, and desperately trying to hide them from the coach. But Salorio chose not to turn their mistake into a problem before the final.
And it paid off because Argentina beat Nigeria 2-1 in the final, with Messi scoring both goals. Years later, Messi also remembered that Salorio may have known everything and simply forgiven them.
“Capaz realized it and let it pass us by, but what we suffered that day. On top of that, we were the two youngest,” said Lionel Messi in an interview.
That happened on the night before the U-20 World Cup final. Messi and Agüero shared a room and had to return upstairs by 10 PM. Instead, they stayed downstairs, chatting and stopping at vending machines for snacks. Later, the elevator opened, and Salorio appeared right before them, and both of them were scared of what would happen.
Messi later recalled hiding everything, but their snack packets made noises while they were moving.
Salorio’s account also confirmed that he knew about their snacking. With the final approaching, he decided against adding tension to an already excited camp. The next day, Messi’s two goals helped Argentina lift the Under-20 World Cup.
Interestingly, food would become a far more serious issue for Messi as his career continued.
During his early days with Barcelona and Argentina, he was repeatedly seen vomiting during matches. After vomiting against Romania in 2014, Messi admitted the problem happened “all the time.” He later blamed years of eating chocolates, alfajores, fizzy drinks, and other unhealthy food.
Eventually, Messi changed his diet and replaced those habits with carefully planned meals. Fish, meat, vegetables, and salads became regular parts of his new routine. He said the biggest change appeared when the vomiting finally stopped during games.
The chocolate incident remained a funny memory, but diet eventually became serious business. Salorio’s forgiveness saved one night, while Messi’s discipline helped solve a recurring problem.
