Mastercard, which is the primary sponsor of the UEFA Champions League tournament, just launched a television commercial in collaboration with Lionel Messi, who is the brand ambassador for Mastercard. The TVC segment describes Messi’s own journey to dominate the sporting world.

The narrative of Messi when he was 13 years old was retold in the television commercial section. His home country of Argentina was left behind when he moved to Spain to attend the La Masia academy in Barcelona, which is widely regarded as the most prestigious football training facility in the world.

While he was flying, he couldn’t help but experience feelings of restlessness, nervousness, and irritability. His dissatisfaction was further compounded by the fact that the dining table could not be folded up in an orderly fashion.

At that same time, the little lad was plagued by a multitude of questions, the most pressing of which was, “Will they (Barcelona) like the way I play? Will I come to regret being apart from my family? Do they see me as a good fit for them? Even though he was reassuring himself by looking at images of his family and birthplace, his heart continued to race with dread.

After stepping off the plane, the younger version of Messi was unexpectedly confronted by Messi as he is now. The young man proclaimed, “Football is my favorite sport!” Messi, who is alive and well today and who has competed in a number of football competitions, laughed and responded, ”

Yes, me too! ” The conversation was brief, but it focused on a message from Mastercard: “What’s priceless comes with you as long as you do what you love.” This is a paraphrase of the original phrase, which reads roughly as “Priceless things will come to you when you do what you love.” When coupled with the image and tale of Lionel Messi, who had to leave his hometown in order to accomplish his dream, this message is very strong.

Messi commented on this TV commercial by saying, “I conveyed the message ‘Invaluable things come to you when you do what you love’ since I never dreamed that I could come to Barcelona at my age of 13. This is not at all a simple task. It was necessary for me to relocate outside of Argentina, away from my life there, my family, and my friends. At that time, I had a lot of doubt, and I was also really terrified.

However, contrary to my expectations, I completed a greater number of tasks. My enthusiasm and love for football have been the driving forces behind my quest. That is the lesson I want to get through to everyone: have hope that in spite of the changes that life brings, we must continue to follow our passion. It will challenge you to succeed in spite of any obstacle.

Mastercard worked along with The Mill, a creative and visual effects firm based in London, England, to recreate the 13-year-old version of Lionel Messi. The Mill specializes in visual effects (VFX), which stands for “visual effects.” The Mill utilized neural rendering technology, which is a technique based on AI that integrates millions of photos, videos, and audio data in order to produce realistic images and motions for Lionel Messi, who is just 13 years old.

When Lionel Messi saw a photograph of himself when he was a toddler, he also experienced what are known as “goosebumps,” and he exclaimed, “This technology is really great! When I showed it to my family and friends, they were equally shocked to see two photographs that were nearly identical to one another. It makes my skin tingle all over.