Pep Guardiola on why Lionel Messi broke down in tears after the final whistle against Spain in the FIFA World Cup final.
š£ļø āThe whole world thought Leo was crying because Argentina had lost the World Cup. They were wrong. I know him better than most people. Those tears came from somewhere much deeper. They were the tears of a little boy who realized the dream he had lived for more than twenty years might have ended forever.ā
āThe moment I saw him standing there, I couldnāt watch anymore. I picked up my phone and called him. He answered, but he couldnāt speak. All I could hear was his breathing. We stayed in silence for what felt like forever because sometimes pain is too big for words.ā
āWhen he finally spoke, he said, āMĆster⦠itās not the defeat thatās breaking me. I can accept losing. What I canāt accept is that this may have been the last time I ever wore the Argentina shirt. I wasnāt ready to say goodbye.ā I completely broke down when I heard those words.ā
āI told him, āLeo, listen to me. Millions of people arenāt crying because Argentina lost. Theyāre crying because they know they may never see you wear that shirt again. They grew up with you. They celebrated with you. They suffered with you. Tonight, theyāre mourning the end of an era.āā
āHe spent more than two decades carrying that badge with unbelievable pride. He gave Argentina his childhood, his youth, his best football and even the final years of his career. There was nothing left for him to give. He left every piece of his heart on that pitch.ā
āI said to him, āDonāt ever apologize. Donāt ever think you failed your country. The only reason this hurts so much is because you loved Argentina more than anyone could ever ask. Thatās not failure thatās the purest form of love.āā
āIāve coached the greatest footballer Iāve ever seen, but that night I wasnāt speaking to a footballer. I was speaking to a man whose heart had been shattered because he believed his final chapter with Argentina had been written. That pain is something no trophy, no speech and no applause can ever heal.ā
āOne day, people will remember who won that World Cup. But those of us who love football will also remember another image forever Lionel Messi standing in tears, not because he stopped loving football, but because football was asking him to say goodbye to the country he loved more than anything in the world.
Sir Alex Ferguson on Lionel Messiās performances at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
š£ļø āIāve spent my entire life watching football. Iāve managed against the greatest players, coached some of the best and witnessed generations of talent. But what Lionel Messi is doing at 39 years old is beyond anything Iāve ever seen.ā
āMost players at that age are long retired or struggling to keep up with the pace of the modern game. Messi? Heās carrying Argentina to another World Cup final. He isnāt surviving heās dominating. Thatās the difference.ā
āPeople keep asking how heās still doing it. The answer is simple: his football brain is decades ahead of everyone else. He doesnāt need to outrun you anymore because heās already seen the next three passes before youāve taken your first step.ā
āLook at this tournament. Every time Argentina needed someone to stand up, Messi answered. When they were under pressure, he demanded the ball. When England thought they had one foot in the final, Messi completely changed the game with two outrageous assists. Thatās what greatness looks like.ā
āYou can organise your defence perfectly, assign two or three players to mark him and spend months analysing every movement he makes. None of it guarantees anything because he only needs one second to destroy ninety minutes of hard work.ā
āWhat amazes me most isnāt the ability itās the mentality. The bigger the occasion, the calmer he becomes. While everyone else feels the weight of a World Cup, Messi plays as if he was born for these moments. Thatās why he keeps breaking hearts and making history.ā
āIāll say something that some people wonāt like, but I donāt care. We will never see another footballer like Lionel Messi. When he retires, an era of football retires with him. Players will win Ballons dāOr, score hundreds of goals and lift trophies, but nobody will combine genius, consistency, longevity and humility the way he has.ā
āEnjoy every minute heās still on the pitch, because when Lionel Messi walks away from football, the game will lose a little piece of its soul. There will be great players after him but there will never be another Lionel Messi.
Thomas Tuchel on Lionel Messiās masterclass against England.
š£ļø āIāve coached against some of the greatest footballers in history, but nights like this remind you why Lionel Messi is different. We prepared for him all week. We had plans, we had markers, we had instructions⦠and none of it was enough. He punished us with two moments of absolute genius.ā
āYou can stop him for 85 minutes, but Messi only needs five seconds to destroy everything youāve built. Thatās what happened tonight. Two assists, no panic, no wasted movement just pure football intelligence. He doesnāt force the game. He waits⦠and when you make one mistake, youāre dead.ā
āI was shouting from the touchline because I knew the danger every time he received the ball. My players knew it too. Yet knowing what Messi is capable of and actually stopping him are two completely different things. He sees passes that nobody else in world football even imagines.ā
āPeople talk about speed and strength. Messi doesnāt need either. His brain is faster than every defender on the pitch. He dictates the tempo, manipulates space and tears teams apart without looking like heās trying. That is what true greatness looks like.ā
āAs painful as this defeat is for England, I refuse to lie. We were beaten by a footballer who continues to redefine the game at 39 years old. Two assists in a World Cup semi-final, carrying his country into another final⦠thatās not normal. Thatās history unfolding in front of your eyes.ā
āSometimes, as a coach, you have to accept an uncomfortable truth. We didnāt just lose to Argentina we lost to Lionel Messi. And if he plays the final like he played tonight, the rest of the world should be very worried.ā
En el banano aprendĆ que, si cuidas el suelo y haces bien cada labor, la planta darĆ” frutos por muchos aƱos. Un padre hace lo mismo: cultiva valores, disciplina y amor para que sus hijos den fruto toda la vida. El mejor legado siempre empieza por las raĆces. Ā”Feliz DĆa del Padre!
Le mienten a la gente.
En noviembre presentamos el Plan Invernal.
Dicen que no contestamos oficios. Falso. Todo fue respondido, incluso el plan de dragado.
En 2025 se dragó la cuenca del rĆo Guayas⦠y Milagro se inundó. Porque el problema es estructural.
Y lo estructural se enfrenta con gestión seria. Asà como nosotros sabemos hacerlo.
Otros hablan, Guayas hace.
@marcelaguinaga@PrefGuayas Muy de acuerdo, necesitamos un PLAN INTEGRAL; no se olvide de la cuenca alta del Guayas, la provincia BolĆvar envĆa la mayor cantidad de tierra. Tenemos una propuesta para bajar la erosión, menos tierra al Guayas y ayuda a mejorar la vida de pequeƱos y mĆ”s pobres agricultores.
De mi madre aprendimos que la responsabilidad no es solo pagar las deudas, sino mantener la palabra y la serenidad, y que la austeridad no es carencia, sino sabidurĆa para administrar los recursos de la mejor forma.