The Spanish coach reminisced about an anecdote from 2004, when the Argentine, at 16, scored four goals in fifteen minutes against the Sevilla FC youth team he managed.
The Spanish coach, Luis de la Fuente, revealed ahead of the 2026 World Cup final against Argentina a memory that has haunted him for over two decades. It was 2004, and the Riojan coach was in charge of the Sevilla FC youth team in the category's Copa del Rey. Opposing him was a 16-year-old teenager named Lionel Messi.
The match, held at the Mini Estadi in Barcelona, was tied at zero until the 70th minute. De la Fuente had set up a man-marking strategy on the young Argentine prodigy, but a card forced him to readjust the plan. It was then that Messi, in just fifteen minutes, scored four goals that devastated the Sevilla FC youth team.
“He was unstoppable,” De la Fuente confessed at the official tournament press conference. “The player marking him got a card, I had to make a change, and in fifteen minutes he scored four against us. I learned the lesson: you don’t mark geniuses individually, you watch them as a team.” The anecdote, told with humour, served the coach to explain why he will not repeat that strategy in Sunday’s final at MetLife Stadium.
The memory that connects Sevilla FC with the legend
The story of that Sevilla FC youth team is one of those small connections that football holds with destiny. The Seville club, birthplace of talents like Jesús Navas and Sergio Ramos, encountered that afternoon what would be considered the best footballer in history. For Sevilla fans, the anecdote has a bittersweet taste: on one hand, the pride of having been part of Messi’s growth; on the other, the certainty that Barcelona already had a future world star.
De la Fuente, who also coached Sevilla Atlético and the first team in later stages, wanted to downplay the matter. “That was 22 years ago. Now Messi is a veteran, but he is still the same genius. And we have Lamine Yamal, who also knows his stuff,” joked the coach, who highlighted the friendship he shares with Lionel Scaloni, the Argentine coach, and described the clash as “a great spectacle for the world.”
A message for the Sevilla fans
The 2026 World Cup final, which will see Spain face Argentina this Sunday, has an extra incentive for Sevilla FC supporters. The Nervion club, which has contributed several players to the Spanish national team throughout its history, sees its youth academy once again at the centre of a World Cup story. De la Fuente also wanted to send a message to the Sevilla faithful: “Sevilla FC is a huge club, with an unmatched youth academy. That defeat against Messi taught me that football always gives you a chance for revenge. Now, 22 years later, we have the opportunity to hit back at Argentina.”
The anecdote has spread like wildfire on social media, where Sevilla fans have nostalgically recalled that youth team from 2004. Some have even dug up line-ups from that match to wonder what happened to those players. The truth is that the story of De la Fuente and Messi is a reminder that football is full of little winks that connect the past and present.
The final will take place on Sunday at 21:00 Spanish peninsular time at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. Spain will seek its second World Cup title after 2010, while Argentina will attempt to defend the crown won in 2022. For Sevilla fans, the match will have a special flavour: that of the afternoon in 2004 when a teenager named Messi taught them that football, at times, is a matter of geniuses.
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