Italian coach Fabio Capello, formerly of Real Madrid, Juventus and AC Milan, among others, has spoken about his desire to sign Lionel Messi as a 17 year old. He was referring to the Joan Gamper Trophy in 2005, back when Messi was only young.

Capello said: "I wanted to sign Messi at 17, but they told me it was impossible." He was Juventus coach at the time and on that day, August 24, 2005, he realised that the forward would go on to mark an era.

The Italian, in April 2018, ended his career as a coach after more than 30 years. He also highlighted Raul Gonzalez as "the most professional player I have coached. He was a smart player on and off the pitch. On it he had some killer movements and off it he was very professional too. Raul is the best player I coached."