Lionel Messi’s past and present Barcelona teammates have leapt to his defense following the Argentine’s shocking decision to retire from international football following Argentina’s defeat at the hand’s of Chile in the 2016 Copa America Centenario final.
If Lionel Messi was trying to make a political statement when he announced his retirement from the Argentina National Team, he got the attention of the man in whose direction such things are usually pointed: Argentina President Mauricio Macri.
Macri tweeted yesterday that he hopes the to watch La Pulga play for La Albiceleste "for years to come."
We're going to preface this article by saying this: Diego Maradona was a great player and is one of the legends of the game. Good, now that that's out of the way, Diego Maradona is a huge hypocrite.
In many ways, the Copa America Centenario resembled an A-Plus B-movie; an event so bizarre that it couldn’t help but capture the imagination.
From Brazil’s decision to essentially forfeit before the matches had even kicked off, to the final drama of Lionel Messi retiring from international football after missing a decisive penalty kick, the 2016 Copa America was camp to the extreme — it had a certain self-acknowledged theatricality.
On Sunday, spectators were given an unconstrained glimpse into the mind of Lionel Messi, a footballer whose cryptic statements and enigmatic private life only add to his magical legend.
Messi’s a consummate professional, dedicated to the game on an otherworldly level. Argentina’s crushing defeat to Chile in the 2016 Copa America Centenario final gave proof to his wholehearted devotion to the cause.
Messi has come out and said he plans to retire from the Argentina National Team. Is he serious?
I don't think he is. Not even a little bit. This is an empty threat by Lionel Messi and his teammates. Despite speculation being that Sergio Aguero, Javier Mascherano and others could follow Messi’s lead and retire from Albiceleste duty, this comes, not only after another final defeat, but during a time when Argentine Football is undergoing a massive organizational transition.
Following a penalty shootout loss to Chile in the Copa America Centenario final in which he missed a penalty in a shootout for the first time in his international career, Lionel Messi announced his retirement from the Argentina National Team.
Chile has beaten Argentina in a penalty shoot-out in the Copa America final for the second time in two years.
Arturo Vidal got Chile off the the most inauspicious start possible in the penalty shootout when he had his opening penalty saved.
But then the impossible happened. In a shocking turn of events, Lionel Messi missed Argentina’s next penalty, failing to capitalize on Vidal’s miss and put Argentina ahead.
Every time Lionel Messi’s teammates step out onto the pitch, they must be thankful that the Argentine wizard is wearing the Blaugrana shirt. In this video from the official FC Barcelona YouTube page, Messi can be seen humiliating some of Barcelona’s biggest stars during training.
Big players come to play on the big stage. And that is sure what Messi did last Tuesday in case you missed it. After an early Argentina goal, it was Messi's turn in the 32nd minute to break American hearts and shatter their hopes of making the Copa America final on their home soil. The United States were sure excited to see Messi play in North America but were they expecteing a free kick of this difficulty and expertise. Of course they were, it's Messi, but what a treat it was to watch him play against the US.