Messi-Luis Enrique, a match with a history of arguments and titles: "We had an argument and it lasted a while."

"We had a discussion and it lasted a while." This Sunday, the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta will witness the reunion between Leo Messi and Luis Enrique , winners of the treble with Barça in 2015. An afternoon of recollections of the past, with Javier Mascherano on the Inter Miami bench and Jordi Alba, Sergio Busquets , and Luis Suárez supporting the Argentine star on the Florida team, and the Asturian coach leading PSG , the current European dominators and a club Messi failed to make champions. The duel has it all, but let's go back to 2015.

The Barça treble just 10 years ago was forged in the weeks of January that almost saw the relationship between Messi and Luis Enrique explode. The glass was filled during the first months of that season, the season of the coach's debut at Camp Nou , in a dressing room that had just failed in La Liga and the Champions League under Tata Martino .

Luis Enrique , direct, sincere and with his quirks, took a while to put the emotional pieces together in a dressing room full of stars who had each suffered in their own way at the World Cup in Brazil . Messi fell in the final, Neymar missed Germany's 7-1 thrashing of the Canarinha in the semi-finals due to a knee from Colombian Zúñiga in the quarter-finals, and the Spanish backbone did not make it past the group stage after defeats to Chile and the Netherlands .

They started winning matches, but things began to fray after two consecutive defeats against Real Madrid (3-1 at the Bernabéu) and Celta Vigo (0-1 at the Camp Nou). The end of the year arrived, along with Luis Enrique's promise to the South Americans that if they won every game in December, they could return a little later. They drew at Getafe and went into the Christmas break second, four points behind Real Madrid.

"Leo's wires went crazy."

Upon returning, the relationship between Messi and Luis Enrique reached a breaking point. "I came back from Argentina after the holidays , we were playing on the 4th and I came off the bench. We had an argument and it lasted a while," the Argentine explained in an interview with Jorge Valdano . Barça lost that day at Anoeta against Real Sociedad, but they had already had a significant clash beforehand. "In training, Luis Enrique didn't call a foul on Messi during the match, Leo got a little bit out of sorts and they said the things they needed to say," former Barça player Mathieu recounted years later.

After the argument, Messi was substituted in San Sebastián , along with Neymar and Dani Alves, who had flown back with him after their vacation. The fight escalated that same night in the Anoeta locker room, with insults and recriminations exchanged between the two. "There was an argument, as often happens. Things were said that stay within the locker room ," Messi said.

The next day, Messi didn't show up for training due to a suspected gastroenteritis , and Luis Enrique called for a suspension. But the intervention of Xavi Hernández and the captains, along with time and victories, eventually made the war forgotten. There was no suspension, but there were titles. Barça came back from behind to beat Madrid in the La Liga title, won the Copa del Rey and the Champions League, and everything was bliss, although at one point they came close to the precipice. " Until everything was resolved, there was a period of tension, which I didn't seek out, but it appeared and I had to manage ," Luis Enrique admitted in 2019. "We ended up with a very good relationship," he insisted.

"Under pressure they can make a mistake"

"Two people with strong character and under intense pressure can make a mistake. It was resolved, it was fixed, and we don't have any problems . Leo has been a unique player. It's a privilege to say that I coached the best player in history. I learned more from him than he did from me," Luis Enrique said years later. " I had a spectacular relationship with him until the very last day . We told him to stay, that we were fine," the player also said.

Today, Messi will face one of his former teams for the first time, still nursing bitter feelings from the era in which they failed to win the Champions League. " Not all is forgiven ," headlined the newspaper L'Équipe about the match. "I was never completely happy in Paris. After the World Cup in Qatar, the treatment changed. I was a champion, and that didn't go down well in France," Messi declared upon arriving in Miami.

In the build-up to the match, Luis Enrique maintained a positive tone regarding his former players: "It's always special to face players with whom you've had great moments, but now we're on different sides." PSG seems far superior, but with Messi, you never know.