He won the Champions League with Barca, Messi loves him and he won a Grammy award

It is common for players to end their professional careers and decide to continue to be involved in soccer in one way or another. Many choose to become coaches, others agents and even television commentators. But many others prefer to leave behind their past as top-level sportsmen, tired of the fame and the constant presence in the media.

This former goalkeeper cannot be included in any of these cases. Although after retiring from soccer he did not return to sports activities, he was far from choosing a life of little media exposure. He swapped soccer for music. And he has done really well.

He is José Manuel Pinto, who for years was Victor Valdez's understudy in Barcelona. There he played between 2008 and 2014 alongside Lionel Messi, being part of that Josep Guardiola's team that won the 2009 and 2011 Champions League against Manchester United. Although he was never able to earn a place in the starting lineup, throughout his 6 years at the club he played almost 100 games with the Blaugrana jersey.

In 2014 he decided to retire and dabble in another of his passions, music. Now he is a singer, producer and composer, and enjoys success in that activity as well. In 2016 he won a Latin Grammy award for being one of the engineers who worked on the recording of Niña Pastori's album "Amame Como Soy".

He also had other jobs

In his 47 years, Pinto has done it all. In addition to being a soccer player and singer, he was also a producer for Cirque du Soleil. His former teammate and friend Lionel Messi acquired part of the rights to the show and gave Pinto the opportunity to be general producer of the event.