The secret that Messi's Argentina has inherited from Maradona

BarcelonaFrom the 2022 World Cup is common to see on social media that Argentine players share photos and videos of their roasted with the national team. Fans follow them wherever they are: in Qatar, at the Ezeiza fields – where the internationals train in Argentina – or in the United States. "It has become a ritual. They usually do it 48 hours before matches. The players, the technical staff, and the rest of thestaff technician. The grid is always handled by Diego Iacovone," says Bruno González, an Argentine journalist.

Iacovone is the chef and thegrill official of the South American combination for over 25 years, a worker much loved by the group who travels wherever Leo Messi, Julián Álvarez and company go. For this year's World Cup, he ordered 500 kilos of meat which were sent to him in Kansas, which is where thelight blue has its headquarters and from where it has already prepared five roast. If this Sunday at dawn (03:00, DAZN) Argentina eliminates Switzerland in the quarterfinals, he will play another one.

The liturgy of the roast'

“The same faces and customs are always repeated, surely out of a matter of cabala, of superstition,” reveals Bruno González, who follows the team’s day-to-day through his YouTube channel. What works isn't changed and since Argentina lifted the World Cup in Qatar, the ritual of the asado remains intact. “Dibu Martínez, Giuliano Simeone, Lautaro Martínez and Nico González are among those who get closest to the fire. Also the president of the federation, Chiqui Tapia. Lautaro is always the one who puts on the music, Giuliano is the one who tastes the meat and Dibu records it and shares it on social media,” adds the journalist.

In one of the latest videos published, the Argentine goalkeeper is seen preparing cheese provoletas and joking with the nutritionist about the calories of the meat on the grill. “Chori, chicken, asado, vacío, ojo de bife and entrails,” Iacovone enumerated. The asado ritual has become a habit for the team; a liturgy, with a mystical component, non-negotiable for Lionel Scaloni. “It's a moment of relaxation, a way to build group cohesion, forge relationships and foster good vibes. As a coach, it's a way to relate to the players without the hierarchy of the position,” explains former Argentine player and coach Raúl Longhi, originally from Mar del Plata.

"We insist on this a lot because it helps to build a group. And if we are a group, we are even stronger. They are unique moments. I am a coach to live moments like these; have a mate, play truco, have asados... If you only think about football, you end up burned out. Win or lose, in 20 years we will get together and remember these moments," Lionel Scaloni said on the eve of the match against Switzerland. They are so important that, as the Argentine coach explained, he even shortens training sessions on the day of an asado.

“It's a classic in teams with players, and especially, Argentine coaches. I used to do them at Figueres, at Sant Cugat... And at Nàstic we often had sardine parties. The concept and the objective were the same. I remember that when Pochettino was coaching Espanyol, he also used to organize them,” comments Longhi, who was then with the white-and-blue reserve team. “It's not just about eating. Normally, when Argentinians get together, we organize an asado. If we have it for lunch, we start preparing it at nine in the morning,” Longhi says, laughing.

A tradition that comes from Maradona

“The Argentine national team already had asados at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, the second World Cup they have won. The grill masters were Diego Maradona's father and his father-in-law, Roque Coco Villafañe, Claudia's father,” explains González. The coach Carlos Bilardo, an extremely fussy and superstitious technician, understood that the asados, which were held before important matches, cohesive the group and worked as a good luck charm.

From Maradona's Argentina to Messi's, because Diego Armando Maradona had asados in Mexico, in Argentina, and also in Barcelona. Raúl Longhi knows it well, one of those who introduced him to the Catalan capital when he signed for Barça in 1982. “Miguel Ángel Brindisi knew me from Las Palmas and recommended that he get in touch with me – Longhi says –. The first thing we did together, with Cyterszpiler – his agent –, was to go and watch a Trofeu Ciutat de Barcelona at Sarrià, at Espanyol's ground”.

“I went to more than one asado at his house, in the upper part of Barcelona. There was barbecue, there were a lot of people. It was a meeting point, an excuse to get together. I remember that sometimes we had done it to watch Argentina national team matches,” reveals Longhi. Especially during his first months in Catalonia, he was very close to the Argentine star, one of the precursors in the Argentina national team of the asado liturgy, one of the secrets of Leo Messi's albiceleste who dreams of winning their second consecutive World Cup.