The story behind Messi's viral video
Nil ran into the Argentinian footballer on Sunday on his way to Camp Nou while asking his partner, Gisela, out for a date.
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BarcelonaThe scene lasts only 22 seconds, but it will remain in the protagonists' memories for the rest of their lives. Nil and Gisela, two lifelong Barcelona fans, were celebrating the start of their relationship on Sunday night on Juan XXIII Avenue in Barcelona when they suddenly froze at what was happening behind them. Gisela noticed first, and Nil quickly turned his head to confirm that what seemed impossible was very real: Leo Messi walked past Rodrigo de Paul, his teammate at Inter Miami and in the Argentine national team, and with Pepe Costa, Messi's friend, advisor and companion since his time at Barça.
"Gisela realized because she started dancing and twirling around, and just as she turned around, she saw him [Messi]. I was facing the wall. We had put our phone in the bushes outside the restaurant [Leña Barcelona, located in Plaça Pio XII] to take a selfie. Gisela looked at me and said 'Messi.' And I said 'no, no.' But we turned around, and it was Messi," Nil explained in a video call with ARA. Nil and Gisela didn't know it yet, but Messi, De Paul, and Costa were on their way to Camp Nou. with the purpose of having Messi take some photos on the stadium's grass without having notified the club. According to Nil, it was 11:50 at night. The next day, Messi would post these photos on Instagram and Barcelona fans would go wild.
Messi had dinner at the Leña Barcelona restaurant
However, Nil and Gisela weren't completely surprised to see Messi strolling through Barcelona. That same Sunday night, they had met at the Leña Barcelona restaurant. It was there that Nil asked Gisela out. She said yes. "We had seen Messi earlier at the restaurant, and he left before us. What we didn't expect was that, 20 minutes after leaving the restaurant, he would walk by just as we started recording the video," Nil admits.
The reason Nil and Gisela left the restaurant 20 minutes after Messi and his entourage was romantic. "I asked Gisela out inside the restaurant, after Messi had already left and dessert had been served. That's when they brought him the bouquet. We had a drink, and I asked her with a scroll. I also asked her in person," Nil continues. "To immortalize the moment and make it official, I suggested we upload an Instagram story of her holding the bouquet, but she said she was embarrassed to take a picture in the restaurant and preferred to do it outside. We went outside, started recording, and Messi walked by." They eventually uploaded the video to TikTok. An hour later, it had gone viral.