Lionel Messi could retire tomorrow and still be regarded as one of the greatest players in history.

Anything the Barcelona star achieves before his retirement is simply adding to an already remarkable legacy and is arguably solidifying his place as football's undisputed number one.

There's still a few arguments to the contrary, most notably Messi's lack of an international trophy and the fact he has spent his entire club career with Barcelona.

However, whatever your opinion is on the 31-year-old, you can't have anything but respect for his rise through the sport from a stout academy player to an indomitable professional.

And while the majority of Messi's footballing education came at Barcelona's La Masia, he also spent a number of years in South America with his boyhood club Newell's Old Boys.

Messi at Newell's Old Boy

The Rosario-born youngster played for his local youth team between 1994 and 2000, before making his life-changing move to Spain at the age of 13.

Before catching a flight to Iberia, though, it seemed that Messi had time for the Argentinian press and an old newspaper interview has been brought to light by AS.

It documented the 13-year-old Messi, just a few months before his Barcelona move, answering a number of quick-fire questions about his life and ambitions.

Old Messi interview

The introduction of the article explained: "Lionel Messi is a player in the 10th division and the attacking playmaker for the team.

"He's not only one of the up and coming players in Newell's academy but has a huge future ahead of him, because, despite his height, he manages to go past one, two, dribble, score goals, but above all he enjoys himself with the ball and as of today he's being revealed to the world."

'Revealed to the world' is no small statement and Messi answered a series of questions on everything from his dream job to perfect meal. Check out all the responses below:

A hero: Two, my dad Jorge and my god-father Claudio.

A coach: Everyone I’ve had, because I’ve learnt something from all of them ((Gabriel, Morales, Domínguez, Vecchio and Coria).

A fitness coach: Pablo Sánchez.

A player: Two, my brother and my cousin.

A team: Newell's

A hobby: Listening to music.

A type of music: Cuarteto and Cumbia.

A TV programme: Primicias

A magazine: Pasión Rojinegra (Newell's fan magazine)

A book: The Bible.

A film: Baby's Day Out.

Other sport: Handball. 

A model: Nicole Neumann.

A food: Chicken and sauce.

A subject: Spanish 

A job: PE teacher

An objective: Finish secondary school.

A goal: Play in the first division.

A joy: When we were champions.

A sadness: My grandmother's death.

A hope: To play in the first division with Newell's

A memory: When my grandmother took me to play football for the first time.

A dream: To play for Argentina.

A tale to tell: When we travelled to Peru and became champions.

Humility: What a human being must never lose.

Argentinean youth teams: I'd love to play for them.

Expectations for this year: To be champions again.

Family: My dad Jorge, my mum Celia and my brothers and sisters Rodrigo, Natalia and Marisol.

Friends: I'm lucky I've got lots of good friends - if I tried to name them I'd forget someone.

What does Newell's mean in your life? Everything, absolutely everything.

Plenty of interesting answers there, particularly regarding Messi's life ambitions.

Messi was either being incredibly humble or pessimistic, but it's fascinating that being a PE teacher was his dream job at the time and not making it as a professional footballer.

However, he made it very clearly that playing in Argentina's first division and making the national team were dreams of his in the future.

Little did the 13-year-old Messi know, that becoming a teacher would be the last thing on his mind and his focus would be directed towards dominating the 'beautiful game.'

Do you think Messi is the greatest player in history? Have your say in the comments section below.