As a child, Leo had trouble eating, but he loved alfajores.
Carlos Marconi, a youth-division official in Rosario, noticed and came up with a deal: one alfajor for every goal, and two if the goal was a header. Messi, who was already scoring three, four or five per match, quickly understood the rules. He also discovered a cheeky trick. When he was alone in front of the goalkeeper, he would flick the ball up with a little trick and score with a header to double his reward.
But the scene Marconi never forgot was another one. One day Leo scored six goals and collected six alfajores. He could have kept them all. Instead, he handed them out one by one to his teammates and ended up with none.
Before the trophies and records, the boy who celebrated with the whole team was already there.
