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Ever wondered what the commentary actually means?

What does ‘Ankara Messi’ actually mean? Origin of iconic commentary explained

Nestor Watach •

Lionel Messi‘s career is filled with countless special moments that live long in the memory. Ray Hudson, Kevin Keatings and Peter Drury are among the commentators who’ve been privileged to narrate the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner’s moments of magic.

But one piece of commentary, from early in Messi’s career, stands out as the most memorable. Eighteen years on from Messi’s outrageous solo wondergoal against Getafe, people still reference the line “Ankara Messi”, two words repeated over and over again as he pulled off a dribble remarkably similar to Diego Maradona’s ‘Goal of the Century’ against England.

We’ve put down a simple explainer on the origin and meaning behind the iconic piece of commentary.

What does ‘Ankara Messi’ actually mean?

Believe it or not, Messi’s 2007 wondergoal against Getafe doesn’t have anything to do with the capital of Turkey.

‘Ankara’, as it’s widely been written on social media, is a mistransliteration of the word ‘Encara’ the commentator was actually using.

In Spanish, it can mean “faces,” “confronts,” or “considers” – but in the native Catalan tongue of commentator Joaquim Maria Puyal it means “still”.

So “still Messi” – simple enough and it makes perfect sense as the ball stuck to his feet like velcro as he dribbled through the helpless Getafe backline.

Regardless, ‘Ankara Messi’ has stood the test of time. The official Major League Soccer account on X captioned the Argentinian’s latest trademark solo dribble goal with a caption referencing the iconic commentary: “Ankara Messi, Ankara Messi, Ankara Messi Ankara Messi, Ankara Messi.”

What about the full commentary?

Written down in full, there’s almost a poetry to it:

Messi. Messi. Messi. Immens Messi.

Encara Messi.
Encara Messi.
ENCARA MESSI.
Encara Messi.
Encara Messi.
⠀
Gol. Gol. Gol. Gol. Gol. Gol. Gol. Gol. Gol.

Sometimes, simple is best.

Peter Drury has made his name on flowery monologues, many of which accompanied Messi’s journey to World Cup immortality in Qatar, but none of those have stood the test of time quite like this effortless two-word repetition.

Who was the commentator?

Joaquim Maria Puyal is a pioneer of Catalan-language sports broadcasting.

The 76-year-old veteran of journalism began working for  Radio Barcelona way back in 1967 and went on to commentate on over 500 football matches by the mid 1970s.

In 1985 he joined Catalunya Radio and regularly commentated on FC Barcelona matches – over 2000 over the following two decades. He was there throughout Johan Cruyff’s Dream Team of the early 1990s through to the emergence of a teenage Messi under Frank Rijkaard in the mid-noughties.

He’s also been a regular face on television and is one of the most recognisable and respected figures in Catalan sports media.

Puyal has received numerous National Ondas Awards over the years, for both his work on the radio and television, and was once voted the “best radio announcer” and “best television presenter” of the 20th century.

In 2010 he received a PhD in linguistics from the Universitat de Barcelona, and in 2019 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Autonomous University of Barcelona.

With that kind of CV, it’s no wonder he pulled off one of the all-time great pieces of sports commentary.

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