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The Qatar World Cup is just around the corner and there are only 32 days left for the debut of the Argentine national team which will be on November 22 before Saudi Arabia. This is a very special contest for Lionel Messiwho announced that he will play his last World Cup. In the preview of the tournament at the senior level that will be held for the first time in the Middle East, the albiceleste captain analyzed what is coming, his present in the Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) and opened up about his privacy.
“I always said that as much as I can be as a player, I try to enjoy life, my family, taking them to school. I am lucky to be able to spend a lot of time with them. We do not concentrate and go directly to the hotel. I am a normal person, ”she said in an interview on DIRECTV Sports. “Sometimes I say how good it would be to be 25 years old, but I always thought more about what was to come. The bad helped me grow as a person”, he acknowledged.
About his fears he confessed: “We always fall into the same, but my fears go through my family. That my children grow up normal, go unnoticed and can enjoy their life as they want. Those are my only goals or fears.”
Beyond being a world star and everything he represents and generates, Leo highlights other situations in life: “It’s good to be fighting among the best, but the best that remains are people, life and relationships. There are much more important things than the game.
La Pulga also highlighted his family and revealed: “That’s the secret. Since I was a child I had his support. He had to live through very significant situations at an age that is not common. For several years my wife and my children have been a very important support”.
About his brothers he said: “Rodrigo is the greatest. He is a person who goes out of his way for the family and makes sure everything is fine and there are no problems. Matías is very similar to me, we are the ones with cancer. And my sister who is the youngest, woman and the most pampered. We are very united and my brothers are very fanatical of mine and they don’t measure, they are not objective. Now we are separated because the largest stayed in Barcelona and the other two in Argentina. My family is the most important thing because it was the one that accompanied me. We enjoy being together and when we can we do it”.
Messi also confessed that his father was demanding as a boy, but that contributed to his career: “My old man was always very critical of me and that made me want to get over myself. He was on top of it the whole time. That way he screwed me and that way he went out and had scored goals and told me ‘but you ate a goal’. That made me wanna get over myself. That may kill someone else and it’s not good, but he knows that I am the most critical. My mother, on the contrary, I played well in all the games, it was never my fault and she cares very little about the results. He always gets me out of the sports side.”
However, the Argentine captain admitted that he was very self-critical: “I have had a lot of bad games and it is very rare that I leave satisfied. I always noticed the worst of each game. Maybe there are some where I scored two or three goals and lamented the one I missed.”
While he highlighted his lifelong companion, Antonela Roccuzzo, as the breadwinner of the family that they knew how to form. She underlined how she and her three children accompany him in a negative sports situation: “Sometimes the annoyance of a bad match or a result lasts and no matter how much one wants to turn the page it is very strong. But to get here and see my children and my wife who already knows me. When Tiago was younger he knew that in the face of a defeat ‘you don’t have to talk to dad (laughs). Tiago looks at everything that comes out of me and sometimes we are taking care of him and you don’t know what he might be looking at. Anto tries to get me out and make me forget about the match and the result. But he also knows when it’s time”.
“Before I locked myself up and it was just football. With the arrival of my first child, I experienced everything differently. I had many defeats along the way and one assimilates it in a different way. I’m not locked up for three days without talking to someone. Since the arrival of the children I have been changing things”, he confided.
MORE MESSI PHRASES
Selection WhatsApp group. “Sometimes it’s intense. The Kun agitates because he is often fart and starts talking. He is spectacular as a streamer and he found something that is good for him, that he likes and keeps him going. It’s good because what happened is hard. He had a contention with that.”
Lionel Scaloni. “He was a fundamental piece for this group to be what it is. The assembly of this group is all his. And as a coach he is great because of how he reads each game. He prepares each match as if it were the last. He knows the Selection. This new litter that had no games in the National Team, he gave them confidence”.
Fury for Argentina. “For us, the Argentineans, it is difficult to be calm. We are always the best, we are always the candidates and, many times, it was not like that. A World Cup is very difficult. Many things have to be given. There are many teams that want the same as us and if we are doing well, there are many that are better”.
illusion of the people. “It is difficult because we are always the best, the candidates, people are excited and climb the walls and think that we are back with the cup. Many things must happen, for us to be fine, and there are many teams that are fine. There is a great illusion because it finds us in a great moment as a group. We are here to play against anyone, but calmly”.
candidates. “Today, the candidates are the great teams. We talk about Germany, Brazil, France, England, Spain. If I have to stay with two, Brazil and France They are the great candidates for this World Cup.”
injuries. “Hopefully Paulo (Dybala) and Ángel (Di María) recover. I think they have plenty of time to recover and be well. The issue of injuries is a concern because it is a World Cup that is played in a different era. Anything that can happen to you can leave you out. It makes my head spin, but also I think that going out to play thinking about it can be counterproductive”.
Gonzalo Higuain. “The Pipa thing was terrible because he had a spectacular race. What he did was very difficult because he played in the best teams in the world, always performing, scoring goals, becoming champion and that’s where he was marked by the Copa América, by the World Cup. That happened to many of that group. I think that after winning the Copa América, people recognized him more for that path. But at that time they were very harsh, very critical, and we had reached the World Cup final (2014) and two Copa América finals (2015 and 2016), which is no small thing, it is very difficult. (Higuaín) He was mistreated by a sector of journalism, people consume that and take it to the courts afterwards”.
First game in the World Cup. “The first 15 minutes, the anxiety, nerves, for everything that happened to get to that game. Then you let go, but the first game is very important and gives you peace of mind. I always said that if I converted the penalty and we started winning, everything would have been different. That’s why it’s important to have a good start.”
hinge “Since the game we lost in the Copa América in Brazil (2019) we realized that we were ready for more important things. Then the group became strong. The undefeated is great because he does a lot that he doesn’t lose, but in the end it’s a statistic. The important thing is how we got there.”
To be champion with Argentina. “A lot of people wanted us to be champions for me. I was lucky to win everything at Barcelona, but the path in the National Team was so hard and so unfair with the previous groups and it was a very nice discharge”.
Resignation to the Selection. “I really said it (N. de la R: after losing the definition on penalties in the final of the Copa América Centenario in 2016). The missed penalty was tough. That Copa América was better than the previous one because we were more established. All of that led me to make that decision. The people are with me in Argentina”.
People. “I want to be in every game. Once we went to Australia and we traveled everywhere, it was crazy, but we don’t care about anything and we want to be there. People always showed me their affection even though I was not well. There is a generation that grew up with me and that could see Argentina champion”.
Argentine Soccer. “Depends on the time, but sometimes I see it. Now the definition got cute. The one in Argentina is a very rare tournament because anyone beats anyone. It looks like the Playoffs.”
Last World Cup. “It is logical because it grabs me at an age of 35 years. We have to be realists. To be honest, I feel very well physically, this year more than last year, I was complicated by injuries, badly personally, COVID-19 caught me and killed me too. This year I was much better.”
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