"I asked him, maybe naively because I was just a young boy, 'but do they get paid?
 
"He said, 'Yes, of course they get paid, Marcos. They can be very rich."
 
"What he said next helped me shaped who I am as a person today. He said, "But you don't do it for the money, Marcos. You do it because you love it."
 
It was the defining moment in a career that started promisingly in the youth system of the Argentine Primera Division, but like most good football stories, it didn't come without its share of struggles.
 
"My first professional trial at 16 years old was about 3 hours drive away from my house and the coach liked me," he says. "So he said to my Dad, let him live here, under the stadium, with 35 other boys."
 
For the kid that lived in a comfortable, air-conditioned house with a bedroom decked out with all the latest technology - it sounded like a fascinating challenge.
 
Marcos's mother suggested they arrange an apartment for him to live in but his father insisted it was a good opportunity for his son to experience a different way of life.
 
"My father always taught me that money wasn't everything; you had to have values. If you have values, you will be a better person," he says.
 
According to Marcos, it was a special memory he has of his father that is key to the way he tries to live his own life now as a man of his own.
 
"When I was about 10 years old, my father and I walked past a homeless man and he asked for money and my father gave him $5," he says.
 
"I asked him: 'What are you doing? With that money could buy me the socks I like.'
 
"He got so angry with me and said: 'That is the last time you will say anything like that again.  That homeless man will eat today.'
 
"He told me: 'Don't you forget this day.'
 
"And I didn't forget."
 
Living under the stadium in a small room with 6 other boys was a huge shock for Marcos, who didn't quite expect the circumstances to be so dire.
 
"We would drench ourselves in mosquito spray and go to bed straight out the shower without drying ourselves, just to keep cool," he explains, earnestly.
 
"One time, it was 3am and I couldn't sleep because it was so hot and I had a game at 9. So I took my sheets to the shower, wet myself completely and took myself back to bed."
 
Marcos wells up as he describes the living conditions, from the tiny portions of food, to curfews, discipline and thieving roommates.
 
"The situation was bad," he says, his voice cracking with emotion resurrected by the memory.
 
"I accepted it because I wanted to experience it - and I did this knowing I could leave if I wanted to. My parents were always offering to find me an apartment."
 
"But I wanted to get through it, at least until I made my debut with the first team. That was my goal."
 
Marcos made a dream debut with Argentine Primera Division side Unión de Santa Fe as a 19 year old, where he came on as a 67th minute substitute, gave his first assist and scored his first goal as a professional.
 
Taking off his jersey to celebrate - he felt as if he'd made it.
 
"It was the best night of my life," he recalls. "And after celebrating with my family that night I realised it was time for me to grow up and leave that horrible place."
 
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