He knows everything about football: Argentina manager Edgardo Bauza hails Lionel Messi

When Edgardo Bauza took over from Tata Martino as manager of Argentina, he faced a daunting task of trying to convince Lionel Messi to reconsider his retirement.

Speaking to Sport, Bauza spoke about his first encounter with the little genius. The first hurdle to which was whether Messi would agree to meet at all. Once he did, Bauza knew there would be no problem as he only intended to have a chat with Messi about football in general.

"I didn't go to convince Messi, I was convinced that in the chat a possibility would arise. He received me with Javier Mascherano at the Ciutat Esportiva and after the chat there was nothing more to say other than "Boys, you're called up for the next game," said Bauza.

What hardly comes as a surprise is that the meeting between the two left the manager completely in awe of arguably the greatest football player the world has ever seen.

Bauza couldn't stop raving about Messi's understanding of the game and how nothing can escape his vision. "What surprised me is how much he knows about football, because he knows everything, about his team-mates, the technical team, about football. He's aware of everything. I always thought a player of his standing would have to be a player who knew a lot about football. But he surprised me even more than I thought. Leo knows everything about everything," gushed Bauza.

Messi will be unable to take part in Wednesday’s World Cup qualifying game against Paraguay due to a groin injury. And perhaps the most disappointed person to hear that would be Argentina's manager Edgardo Bauza, his biggest fan