On September 17, 2000, from a flight from Buenos Aires with a stopover in Madrid, landed with his father in El Prat a boy named Lio, in honor of Lionel Ritchie (his mother's favorite singer). He was waiting for them at the terminal Horacio Gaggioli, representative associated with the office of Josep Maria Minguella, only relative in Lérida, who was the great initial support for the family. "All I did was call Carles Rexach and ask him to do a test for that kid," Minguella confirms. Gaggioli took them to the hotel, just in front of the Camp Nou, where Messi slept for the first time in Barcelona. He was summoned to participate in a first training session the day after his arrival on September 18 with the children's team, although he could not To carry out the mandatory tests to enter the base soccer azulgrana due to the absence of Rexach, responsible of the quarry at that time.