LIONEL MESSI SAYS his six-year-old son has questioned why he receives so much criticism in Argentina.
While Messi has inspired Barcelona to domestic and European dominance during his glittering career, international success has continued to elude him.
Argentina have lost successive Copa America finals and were beaten by Germany in the final of the 2014 World Cup despite Messi’s efforts.
After Argentina were knocked out by France in the last 16 at Russia 2018, Messi stepped away from international duty and only made his return from a nine-month absence in a loss to Venezuela last week.
Messi subsequently pulled out of the Argentina squad to face Morocco in another friendly on Tuesday, a decision that has re-opened the debate surrounding his commitment to his country.
The Argentina captain was quick to hit back, however, in an interview with Buenos Aires-based radio station FM Club 947.
“I dearly want to win something with the national side, I wanted to come back and want to participate in all the big games,” Messi said.
“When I made the decision to return, there were many who criticised the decision. My six-year-old son asked me: ‘Dad, why do they crucify you in Argentina?’.
“I tell him that it’s just a handful of people. I’ve shown my desire to play for Argentina and don’t need to prove this to anyone.”
Lionel Scaloni, who replaced Jorge Sampaoli as coach after the World Cup, welcomed Messi back into the fold and the captain feels Argentina could have a bright future due to the development of young players.
“I left the World Cup squad and then didn’t speak with anyone at the federation,” Messi added.
“Later, Scaloni called me and told me to take some time off and that he’d be keen for me to come back as he was preparing a solid project.
A transitional phase is totally normal and it’s something that should have happened years ago. The young guys have come through and need to be given time, we can’t crucify these guys.
“They are a good bunch of guys and are great players. Apart from the Venezuela game they’ve played well and I’ve watched them develop with their club sides and I like the way things are going.”
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I doubt any six year old would be aware of national opinion towards their parents…
sounds like a likely excuse in my opinion
@David A Roberts: r/thathappened
@mcdb06: @dhotya on twitter
@David A Roberts: jesus was asked the same thing about jerusalem
@D H: what??
Stop winging Messi. Ronaldo has worse players at Portugal but has still managed to win games by himself for years and his passion to play for his country is real
@Mark: i don’t agree. Ronaldo is so greedy for Portugal, shoots every time he gets the ball within 50 yards of opponents goal. If he hadn’t been subbed off early in the Euro finals, Portugal would not have won
@Mark: Yup. I know I’ll be in the minority here but Ronaldo’s achievement with Portugal tip the scales in the GOAT debate for me.
@Mark: absolute bollox!!
Portugal have a far better team than Argentina.
And the year they won the European championship, he was shit.
@Cian Nolan: If not for an awful Higuain miss in the World Cup and the Copa America then Messi would have won both. You can only drag a team so far. Like in Ronaldos case he can win them games but when he goes off they still might put together a good performance.
@Margarita Huanca: he got them to the championships pretty much on his own though , how quickly you all forget
@Mark: Ronaldo… Biggest prima Donna ever n agree with comment below that Portugal only really got going when he was gone in the euros… Fabulous athlete but as a football not fit to tie Messi’ bootlaces
@Ronan Carley: o
@Margarita Huanca: ur talking out of your hole Argentina have players like Dybala pavon etc
@Margarita Huanca: and by the way I agree Ronaldo didn’t have a great euros but has been incredible for Portugal since his first cap.
@Limón Madrugada: he was rubbish in the championship.
I’m not saying Ronaldo is not a great striker but people give so much crap to Messi and not look at his stats for his country. He got them to the World Cup courtesy of a hatrick in the last game.
@Mark: Messi is Argentinas all time scorer.
And they are a far worse team than Portugal.
@Limón Madrugada: is crucify a normal word for a 6 year old Spanish speaker to say though, that’s the real question
His 6 year old son definitely didn’t say the word ‘crucify’.
@Jonathan Regan: no shit. He speaks Spanish
You can talk about the quality Messi has around him in Argentina all you like, but it’s that same ‘quality’ that lost Messi a WC Final after he dragged them there.
https://youtu.be/As_hf0psXMw
Wow “crucify ” his kid must be on another level of intelligence with an imperative vocabulary and ingenious IQ!!or he’s the kid from the shining , what child of 6 would use the word crucify lol
@Paddy D: a religious child?
@Paddy D: he speaks Spanish, probably a translation thing