Posted by Andy Booth on 01/26/12

Lionel Messi has been given the honour of appearing on the cover of this month's edition of TIME magazine in Europe and Asia.

Despite this tremendous achievement, Messi was not featured on the magazine's cover in the USA, largely due to the sport's lower profile in North America.

Messi is featured in an in-depth interview and here is an example of what he had to say regarding the sacrifices he has made for the game; "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."

The interview has also been published online. To read it, click here.

Please share your comments..