Scaloni, he surrendered at Lionel Messi’s feet: he ran out of adjectives, asked to protect him and compared him to Rafael Nadal

“I don’t know what else to say, it’s very difficult”. With that phrase, which also hid a certain resignation, Lionel Scalloni referred to the historical performance of Leone Messi versus Estoniawhich allowed him to amplify his importance not only for Argentina, but for world football.

Even taking advantage of what happened a couple of hours earlier at Roland Garros, the Santa Fe manager was encouraged to make a comparison: “He’s like Rafael Nadal”launched in the middle of a press conference at the Sadar stadium, home of Osasuna.

In that place Scaloni, in his phase as a footballer, had scored the second fastest goal in the history of La Liga. Now, on the other side of the line, he watched from a prime position another historic performance from Lionel Messi, who broke records everywhere with his five goals.

“It is preferable that the journalists speak, because you have no more words to describe it. It’s something unique, it’s a pleasure to have him in this group, it’s a pleasure to train him, his behavior, how he toasts this shirt … “assured the 44-year-old coach.

And then he added: “I don’t think it’s a legacy of Argentina, but of the world. The day he stops playing, we’ll miss him. I hope he continues to play and that everyone appreciates and protects him.”.

Scaloni also analyzed the duel against Estonia, 110th in the FIFA ranking, upset by the superb performance of Messi, but which represented a new challenge for the Albiceleste team, which has preparation for the Qatar 2022 World Cup between its eyebrows.

“In the first half we weren’t good, they were too far behind, we couldn’t find the spaces. In the second half we made a couple of changes of position and we managed to open. They have a very marked way of playing and it’s difficult to find spaces. , but with patience in the end he found himself “held.

What was the intention of this friendly? “The idea was to be able to see other players playing as well as the others with the national team. The group assimilated to playing with this shirt and that is why they managed to win the game”he trusted.

Without entering into controversy with his Spanish colleague Luis Enrique or the French striker Kylian Mbappé, Scaloni referred to the favoritism that the world of football has applied to the Argentine national team after winning the Copa América 2021 and the Grand Final against Italy this week. .

“Now the countdown for the World Cup will begin for all the national teams. We are neither more nor less favored than the others. There are very big national teams, we trust them but football is very balanced and in a World Cup a bad game leaves you out, then football sometimes has unpleasant things, but the important thing is how to deal with it, how to win and sometimes even how to lose“, he concluded.

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