Former Lionel Messi Fitness Coach Brings High-Performance Training to Santa Cruz

Gil Orriols once worked with Lionel Messi when the Argentine was 17 and still playing for Barcelona’s reserve team. Now the Spanish performance specialist is applying that experience to young players in Santa Cruz, Bolivia.

Orriols has joined Sporting Santa Cruz, an academy that develops talent from the city’s neighborhoods while combining education and sport. The academy sees improved youth training as a path toward producing players capable of reaching Europe’s major leagues and strengthening Bolivia’s national team.

His international background includes work with FC Barcelona, Lille OSC, Montreal Impact, FC Kairat and the City Football Group. At Sporting Santa Cruz, he focuses on training planning, workload monitoring, recovery, injury prevention and physical performance.

The program is designed to make preparation more individualized and grounded in objective information. Coaches will use video, GPS and force platforms to assess how each player responds to training and to make better decisions about workload and recovery.

Orriols said he believes Bolivia could produce a player with characteristics similar to Messi. “We are talking about many years ago. I coincided with him when he was 17 and in Barcelona’s reserve team. Then he moved up to the first team,” he said.

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We are talking about many years ago. I coincided with him when he was 17 and in Barcelona’s reserve team. Then he moved up to the first team.