He told the Italian newspaper: "The first day of training, I went in hard on [Messi] and his dad came over to tell me off and say that I had been too strong. To be honest, it was the only way to stop him".
Motta also took the opportunity to heap praise on Andres Iniesta, who was already showing what he was capable of from a very young age.
"That year Iniesta came up to the first team.. you could already see when he was 14 that he was phenomenal. He didn't fear anyone".
The defender would go on to progress through the ranks at La Masia, making 96 appearances for the first team between 2001 and 2007, before moving elsewhere.