Lionel Messi on Cover of TIME Magazine…Except in US

Out from the cover of the newest issue of TIME Magazine peer the eyes of the world’s greatest footballer, next to Craig Bellamy.

Indeed, the face of Barcelona’s “King Leo” Messi will appear on the iconic magazine cover which hits newsstands around the world next week…just you won’t be seeing his mug in the United States.

It’s a shame. But an understandable shame. TIME magazine, which has been struggling to sell newsstand copies over the past few years, probably can’t afford to showcase Messi in a country that, frankly, is too busy planning Super Bowl parties and platters right now. (Some wing lovers, like myself, have actually lost their minds. I give you, Cupcakes x Buffalo Wings.)

Anyways, the U.S. edition has decided to go with a piece about Shyness. How dry can we get? Whether or not the Messi interview will be inside the magazine, I’m not sure. But TIME has posted some excerpts of King Leo’s semi-revealing sit-down on it’s website. (Remember, Leo is always a bit cagey in interviews.) Here’s a few.

On whether he’s had to sacrifice fun in the pursuit of excellence:

I never thought that. I always thought I wanted to play professionally, and I always knew that to do that I’d have to make a lot of sacrifices. I made sacrifices by leaving Argentina, leaving my family to start a new life. I changed my friends, my people. Everything. But everything I did, I did for football, to achieve my dream. That’s why I didn’t go out partying, or a lot of other things.

More after the jump…

On how he feels when criticized by fellow Argentines for his performances with the national team:

Yes, yes, it hurt, it bothered me. Because they said things that weren’t true — that I didn’t care as much about wearing the [Argentine] shirt. I didn’t feel that, I didn’t think that. And now, I think what people there understand that this is a team game, and that I try to play the same way there as I do in Barcelona, and always do the best I can.

On why he feels his countrymen are finally warming to him:

You see it in the affection that people there have, for what they say on television. Before, there was a lot of criticism and everything was bad. And now it’s not like that. That’s good, because every country I go to, people have always received me very well, and in my own country that wasn’t happening.

Check out more excerpts from the interview here.