Messi: from the soccer field to the small screen

Lionel Messi will make his debut on the small screen in the second season of the series “The Protectors”. As has been seen in the trailer, the footballer does not have any leading role but rather he will have a small role.

The production tells the funny stories of three soccer representatives, characters played by Argentines Adrián Suar (as Renzo ‘Mago’ Magoya) and Gustavo Bermúdez (as Carlos ‘Conde’ Mendizábal), and Colombian Andrés Parra (as Reynaldo ‘Colombia’ Moran). The cast also includes Martín Seefeld, Jorgelina Aruzzi, Gastón Soffritti and Karina Mazzocco.

To shoot the scenes with Lionel Messi, the leading actors Suar, Bermúdez and Parra had to travel to Paris, where Messi has been living since he signed for the Paris Saint Germain club in 2021. 

“It has really surprised us all. Not only his human warmth but his acting, “said Andrés Parra, an actor known for his role as Pablo Escobar in El Patrón del mal. 

“I think he’s better off the pitch as a person than as a player, so you can imagine what he is,” Bermúdez commented on the Argentine soccer star’s performance on television.

In the first season of the series, released in March 2021, the public was able to see how the three men managed to found their company -Los Protectores SA- and successfully position themselves in the Latin American and European sports market with acclaimed soccer players.

The second season begins a year after the founding of the company and although everything seems to be going well, the sudden appearance of the competition changes the course of things and forces “Mago”, “Colombia” and “Conde” to face a powerful businessman called Ernesto Cartens (character played by Martín Seefeld)

Star+ announced that the second season of “The Protectors” will air 45-minute episodes, which have been filmed not only in Paris but also in the city of Buenos Aires.

The  tv series will premiere in 2023 exclusively on the Star+ platform. 

The script for “The Protectors” has been written by the Argentine filmmaker Marcos Carnevale, who has also served as director.

This is not the first production in which Lionel Messi (34) will appear, since he will also participate in “Argentina Selection, the series”, which will premiere exclusively on the Prime Video platform on July 10. This series, which recounts the path taken by Argentina to reach the next World Cup in Qatar, dedicates minutes especially to Messi, who is the captain of La Albiceleste, who hopes to take home the World Cup.