Argentina had won two World Cup (in 1978 and 1986) before Messi's debut, and had won about 14 Copa America titles. It took the national almost 40 years to win another trophy, fourty good years in 2022. Now despite all Messi's accomplishments since his debut, that is, 35 titles in 17 seasons, Messi also won his first major international title in 2021 which was the Copa America, taking 16 years into his career, and almost 17 years to add the World Cup trophy to his collection.
Now during his years of Int'l trophy drought he was heavily criticized even by Argentines, especially after missing the crucial PK in 2016.
Messi lost four international finals back to back, almost quit the team, and had to struggle to win his first Copa America and World Cup, but all of a sudden it was rigged for him? Be serious.
🚨 Marc Casadó: "Julián Álvarez is a world-class player and would help Barça a lot."
"If Julián came to Barça, we would welcome him with open arms."
"His situation will have to be decided with Atlético Madrid."
❗️Marc Casadó: "I spoke with Hansi Flick and we made things clear on our future. Preseason will help us finish clarifying it."
"On Monday I will speak with whoever I have to speak with: the coach, the club and my agents, and we will decide what is best for everyone."
🚨 Bruno Fernandes on Portugal's defeat:
🗣️ Reporter: "How do you take this loss?"
🗣️ Bruno Fernandes:
"It's a very difficult one to accept. It hurts because this isn't the result we came here for. We had high expectations, and we know we were capable of much more.
Looking back at the game, I think one of our biggest mistakes was putting too much of our focus on Lamine Yamal. Of course he's an exceptional player and deserves attention, but football isn't about stopping one player. Spain have quality all over the pitch.
By concentrating so much on him, we allowed other players to find space, dictate the game, and punish us. We lost our balance defensively and never really managed to control the match the way we wanted.
If we had defended as a team and respected the threat of the entire Spain side instead of just one individual, I believe we would have given ourselves a much better chance of winning. It's a painful lesson, but one we have to learn from and move forward.
🚨🗣️ 𝗡𝗘𝗪: Wayne Rooney criticizing Bruno Fernandes regarding not putting the cross in here for Cristiano Ronaldo:
"If you are playing Cristiano Ronaldo, you have to USE HIM! The ball could have been put in the box here, from Bruno Fernandes. But they REFUSE to put it in."
"If you play him, you have to USE HIM! At set pieces he is still a MASSIVE THREAT for Portugal!"
"Don't play him the ball 30 yards from the goal, that's not his strength anymore. Get to him into the penalty area where he is still EFFECTIVE!"
— BBC
🚨🇵🇹 Cristiano Ronaldo: “We played a good game, the performance was well done. We could have done better but Spain are among the best, they will get to the final or close”.
🚨🇪🇸 This is incredible. Spain have kept 5 CLEAN SHEETS in 5 matches at the World Cup. 🤯
⚖️ 0-0 draw vs Cape Verde
✅ 4-0 win vs Saudi Arabia
✅ 1-0 win vs Uruguay
✅ 3-0 win vs Austria
✅ 1-0 win vs Portugal
You will know there is zero passion for football from players these days. When Brazil was eliminated, see how Neymar cried. Portugal also eliminated, see how Cristiano Ronaldo cried.
The rest players carry eyes like thief like say na normal weekend league match.
The entire world cries with Ronaldo as he bursted into tears after getting eliminated from the World Cup. It’s the last dance and end of the road for the greatest of all time 🥹🐐💔
🚨Reporter: "With 4 goals and 2 assists in the tournament, you're doing the job of both a goal scorer and a playmaker"
🗣️Jude Bellingham: "The best player of all time has been doing the same for 20 years & he's still the best in the world at 39. I'm nothing special"