Countdown to the Nou Camp showdown: 'Ronaldinho gives me lots of advice. He says I'm his little brother'

The Barcelona forward is a superstar at just 18. He tells Andy Mitten about his illustrious team-mates, his role in the side, and what he does off the field

Lionel Messi may be the most exciting teenager in world football, hailed by Ronaldinho as Barcelona's most sublime talent and by Maradona as his successor, but he does not always live the life of a superstar. Last Thursday, after scoring one goal and making another in Argentina's 3-2 friendly defeat to Croatia in Switzerland, the Barcelona striker returned to Catalonia by Easyjet from Basle, the parsimonious Argentinian Football Association sourcing him the cheapest ticket.

Not that Messi, at 5ft 6in, would complain about the leg room. Having joined La Masia, the youth academy of the Catalan giants at the age of 13, it is now the stuff of local legend that, at 4ft 8in, when he sat on a bench he was the only player whose legs were not long enough to reach the floor. Nicknamed "the flea", he had been taking hormone injections since the age of 11, when growth problems were first diagnosed in Argentina.

Messi's recent rise has been meteoric. A year ago, he played for Argentina's Under-20s and Barcelona's B team in front of 2,000. Although he featured in seven first-team league games last season and became, at 17, the youngest player ever to score for Barcelona, Messi accumulated just 77 first-team minutes.

Then he travelled to the Under-20 World Cup in the Netherlands last July and was the outstanding player and leading scorer in the competition, with six goals in seven games as Argentina triumphed. Messi's reserve player contract, worth £100,000 a year, was upgraded to £3m annually - dependent on performances. The deal runs until 2014 and contains an improbable £100m buy-out clause - the same amount as Ronaldinho's.

Comparisons abound between Messi, 18, and his idol Maradona. Both share a low centre of gravity, lethal acceleration with the ball and the ability to dribble past players as though they are training-ground dummies. "It's an honour to be compared to Maradona, but I have to say that I've never enjoyed those kinds of comparisons," says Messi, always quietly spoken and hiding behind a heavy fringe.

"I don't go out much," he says. "I enjoy being alone at home, listening to Argentinian music, using the internet to stay in contact with my family in Argentina and watching TV. Perhaps I can start an English course to use some of my spare time."

Messi's lifestyle includes few of the indulgences which blemished and ultimately ended Maradona's career - and their personalities could not be more different. "Leo's really quiet," says Arnau, his captain for Barça B last season. "He'd barely speak on the team coach, but on the field he was electric. He scored a goal for us against Espanyol B which was like Maradona's dribble against England in the 1986 World Cup. He runs so fast with the ball sticking to his feet like a magnet. He stops and starts so quickly, and confuses players by changing direction. You can't get the ball from him.

"Sometimes he'd get frustrated in the reserves but, surrounded by better players in the first team, he's growing in confidence and will shoot and score when he used to pass in front of goal."

Despite their rivalry with Argentina, Barça's Brazilians look after Messi. "I get on really well with the Brazilians," he says. "I'm very close to Sylvinho and Deco takes me shopping. Ronaldinho is a phenomenon. He gives me a lot of advice and praises me permanently. We have fun in every training session. He says I'm his little brother.

"They always joke, 'Hey, kid, you are the only Argentinian we will put up with' - but I know that they are my friends. But I admire these guys for their football as well as for their human skills. I mean Deco, what a player he is. The team simply could not function without him. How many guys in the world can do the dirty work of tackling and marking but still come up with something spectacular as soon as they have got the ball? He is the engine of Barcelona. Ronaldinho is world class, and he's got an ability to control the ball which makes me jealous. At any moment during a match he can do something special to win it - that's what I must aim to do."

Like Ronaldinho, Messi's best position is not clear. Maradona-style, he favours his left foot, yet the coach, Frank Rijkaard, tends to use him on the right.

"Overall, I'd say he's an attacking player," says Rijkaard. "He plays as a forward on the right, but he's left-footed. That is not a problem; on the contrary, it makes him versatile. I could also place him on the centre or on the left. Besides, his mobility makes him capable of reading the moment and seizing the opportunity. Age is not an issue. He plays because he deserves it."

"The boss has played me on the right lately and I feel very comfortable there," says Messi, "but whenever I've played up front, I've interchanged my position. Playing on the right is where I'm happiest, as that lets me cut inside more easily."

"He does the opposite of what you expect him to do and he has the mentality of a winner," says Barcelona's captain, Carlos Puyol. "He always searches for goal - usually directly. If he continues with his hard work he could be one of the best for both Barça and Argentina."

Messi is a hero of Barça's discerning crowd. "Meeesssi, Meeesssi," they shout whenever he takes the field. What staggers most is his development as his confidence grows. They see him improving month by month and gasp at his sublime raw talent. They fully expect him to be a star in the World Cup.

"What most surprises me about Messi is that he hasn't got control problems," says Maradona, offering what is the equivalent to a papal blessing for an Argentinian footballer. "The ball remains on the upper part of his foot, like it is glued to it. He feels the ball, and that makes him different to the rest. Messi seems to have an extra gear, a sixth speed. He can put up with anything, even with the 'saviour' tag that people are already attaching. And the best of all is that he hasn't reached his peak."

Messi was the outstanding performer in Barça's 2-1 first leg at Stamford Bridge and he reacted angrily to Jose Mourinho's assertion that his response to a challenge by Asier Del Horno led to the Chelsea player's sending-off. "You could see easily in his first tackle he got me with a high kick and, in the second, Del Horno deliberately went in very strong but I jumped and he didn't get me," says Messi.

Rested for Saturday's 3-2 victory over Deportivo La Coruña, Messi is likely to start tonight's game. Accusations from some elements of the British press that he is a "dirty dog" caused offence among Barça fans. Messi, who has no reputation for diving, is keen to prove that he is anything but.