Video: Football stars react to meeting Pope

Players and staff from the Argentine and Italian national football teams speak after meeting Pope Francis in Rome, Italy on Tuesday (August 13).

Cesare Prandelli, Italian national soccer team coach:
“The emotion was strong. I didn’t manage to invite the Pope to the stadium because he forestalled me saying that he had already received many requests; he also said that they reprimand him a lot because he’s undisciplined at the Vatican, but he said ‘considering my origins I’m justified’ but at that moment I smelled a particular perfume, and I’m still bringing this emotion inside me.”

Gianluigi Buffon, Italian national soccer team captain:
“I think that with such a Pope, that indicates us the way, the right road to follow, that warms up our hearts, that shakes our souls, I think it’s a bit easier to become better people and do better things that can make us proud.”

Lionel Messi, Argentina national soccer team captain:
“It’s an honour to be here, to have met the Pope. I think the fact that he’s Argentinean like us makes him much more appreciated and closer.”

Lionel Messi, Argentina national soccer team captain:
“It is hard, the way people live nowadays, with the crisis that is going on and all the things that are happening, but I think that this is a good start.”

Alejandro Sabella, Argentina national soccer team coach:
“Meeting the Pope, the fact that the Pope is Argentinean, and meeting him with our Italian friends, with whom we have so many things in common, who are almost like our brothers, and I hope they feel the same. This has been really a dream for all of us.”