Table of Contents
1 Rosario: Conversation with Celia and Marcela Cuccittini 1
2 Garibaldi Hospital: 24 June 1987 7
3 The smallest of them all: A summer afternoon in 1992 14
4 The same as always: Conversation with Cintia Arellano 21
5 Red and black: 21 March 1994 25
6 He was a Gardel: Conversation with Adrián Coria 33
7 Size: small: 31 January 1997 36
8 Across the pond: 17 September 2000 42
9 Provisional licence: 6 March 2001 50
10 Puyol's mask: Conversation with Álex García 55
11 Debut: 16 November 2003 59
12 Videotape: 29 June 2004 65
13 The football is his toy: Conversation with Francisco 'Pancho' Ferraro 74
14 A friend: Conversation with Pablo Zabaleta 78
15 Soap opera: 3 October 2005 81
16 A breath of fresh air: Conversation with Fernando Solanas, Head of Sports Marketing at Adidas Iberia 90
17 Boy of the match: 22 February 2006 94
18 Not even a single minute: 30 June 2006 101
19 Positive discrimination: Conversation with Jorge Valdano 113
20 The devil: 10 March 2007 116
21 Leo and Diego: 18 April 2007 123
22 A long career ahead of him: Conversation with Frank Rijkaard 138
23 You have to prove it: Conversation with Carlos Salvador Bilardo 142
24 Disappointment: 15 July 2007 145
25 An electric kid: Conversation with Aljio 'El Coco' Basih 151
26 Bronze and silver: 17 December 2007 154
27 Physical thinking: Conversation with Roberto Perfumo, 'El Mariscal' 161
28 The long journey towards gold: 22 May 2008 164
29 Happiness: 27 May 2009 181
30 Third time lucky: 1, 19 and 21 December 2009 199
31 Floods of tears: 3 July 2010 212
32 Surprise: 10 January 2011 226
33 Simply the best: 28 May 2011 236
34 A thwarted dream: 16 July 2011 251
35 Ace of cups: 14/17/26 August 2011 258
36 Hat-trick: 9 January 2012 262
37 Record: 7 January 2013 266
38 Messidependence: 19 May 2013 283
39 Barcelona: Conversation with Leo Messi 296
40 A turbulent season: 17 May 2014 306
41 History's revenge: 13 July 2014 316
42 From Anoeta to Berlin: 6 June 2015 325
Career record 338
Bibliography 342
Acknowledgements 344
