Mónica Huarte experienced an unexpected meeting with the world soccer star. It was 2012. The actress, focused on building her career, received the offer of a commercial for a baking company. I just knew I would play a clueless mom who bumps into a celebrity in a supermarket.
“Two days before traveling, after I had signed the contract, they told me: ‘Hey, by the way, the commercial is with Messi,’ and I: ‘Oh, yes, of course, with Messi.’”
The recording was in Barcelona. Messi’s contract was strict: only two hours of filming. “Whatever they could record, because that’s what their contract said, and if they finish, that’s great; if not, ‘I’m leaving,'” he said.
A set with rules
The production took care of every detail. They banned the use of cell phones: a thousand dollar fine if someone took a photo without permission. But Huarte played it. “They put a mask on your cell phone, but I told him: ‘Messi, come on!’, and that’s how I appeared with him in the photo.”
He also remembers that Messi signed autographs during the shots. She kept them in a little bag, but the art director took them away. “The brazen guy kept them, he stole millions from me because they belonged to Messi,” he jokes.
After that commercial, in 2013 he repeated the experience with Cristiano Ronaldo for the same brand. “My brother couldn’t believe it, although he’s more of a Messi fan. One day he told me: ‘Hey, you’re really good, I think you’re very important.'”
The actress, who in 2026 celebrates 30 years of career, assures that that commercial was a springboard. “It was a great goal, crazy, I couldn’t believe it.”
