Jorge Sampaoli has told friends many times over the last few years that he would love to coach Lionel Messi one day. At the end of the season that day might finally have arrived.
On Wednesday, the Sevilla coach - tipped to take over at Barcelona in the summer - will have to make do with Stefan Jovetic and Samir Nasri instead of the world's greatest, but that is not something that has held him back so far this season.
With Sevilla's merry band of rehabilitated underachievers (Nasri) the previous unknowns (Mariano, whom Brazil scouts will be watching) and the next big things (Vitolo, who will leave for big money this summer), he has guided Sevilla to their best-ever first half of a season.