Striker Lionel Messi has admitted that he regrets not learning English when he had the chance.
The Barcelona legend is known for not speaking English, often needing a translator and conducting all interviews in Spanish.
Messi said he feels somewhat of an “idiot” for not taking the opportunity to learn English during school and that this made him feel embarrassed and inferior when meeting famous personalities with whom he could not communicate.
“I regret many things.”
“I didn’t learn English when I was a child. I had the time to study it and I didn’t. I deeply regret it.”
“I’ve experienced situations where I’ve been with extraordinary personalities who I could talk to and you feel half-ignorant. I always thought: ‘What an idiot, what a waste of time I’ve been.'”
“When you’re young, you don’t understand. Today I tell my children this: to have a good education, to study and to be prepared. I always tell my children to take advantage of the opportunity. They have a different situation than I had, although I didn’t lack anything,” Messi said on the “Miro de Atras” podcast.
Messi moved from Argentina to Barcelona at the age of 14, joining the club’s La Masia academy after the famous contract signed on a napkin.
He described his last year of school in Argentina as “a disaster.”
“I knew I was going to leave. In Barcelona I finished high school with the other kids who went to La Masia,” he recalled.