I'm not the Thai Messi,I'm Chanathip!! The superstar from Thailand says with a grin.

  • text by Yoichi Igawa
  • photo by Matsuoka Kenzaburo

"Kashima Antlers and Kawasaki Frontale are strong in terms of their team quality," he said. "Kashima is very aggressive when attacking and defending, pressing so hard, and their counter-attacking is acute. Kawasaki play very good passing game, making and using space, which means they can easily make a lot of scoring chances."

Although Chanathip is able to analyse opponents like this, he seldom watches football from outside of the pitch. His idol was Diego Maradona who retired before Chanathip was aware of the Argentine legend - his father showed him Maradona's clips many times - but he has never been keen to watch other players' perform live. Though the Premier League is very popular back in Thailand, he has rarely sat down and watched a whole game.

"I like to play football," he says, "but I don't like to watch. I am a professional player and think professional footballers should want to be watched rather than to be watching themselves. I used to like Maradona and now like (Lionel) Messi, but I don't watch any of his full games."

Chanathip used to be called "the Thai Messi" in the media when he arrived in Japan. When I told him this, he smiled again and replied.

"No, I am not Messi from Thailand. I am Chanathip from Thailand."

Putting his right thumb and forefinger around his chin, the superstar from Thailand grinned again.

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