“I feel good physically and this year I was able to do an excellent preseason, something that I had not been able to do last year…” Messi commented in dialogue with Espn Argentina.
“It was fundamental to get to where I am, with a great state of mind and a lot of hope”, completed the six-time Ballon d’Or winner who last year celebrated the Copa América with the national team by beating Brazil in the final at the Maracanã .
“I’m counting down the days until the World Cup…” confessed the Paris Saint-Germain striker who scored two braces with his team in the last friendlies against Honduras and Jamaica in the United States.
Anxiety
In those duels he celebrated his hundredth victory in 164 games with the “albiceleste” shirt, with which he is the top scorer in history and raised his personal record to 90, a figure only surpassed at the national team level by the Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo (117) and by Iranian Ali Daei (109).
Argentina, which is undefeated in 35 games (24 wins and 11 draws), “is always a candidate,” Messi said, admitting that he feels a mixture of “nerves and anxiety” thinking about the World Cup. “I wish it was already. We can’t wait for it to arrive, but at the same time we have shit because we want it to go well, “he explained, acknowledging that Argentina arrives” at a good time and with a united and strong group “.
In any case, he stressed that “anything can happen in a World Cup and all the games are difficult and that’s what makes it so special because the favorites don’t always end up winning”.
“We don’t feel like we’re going to be the big favorites because there are teams that are ahead of us today, but we’re close,” he explained.
In relation to his popularity, which was evident in the last friendly against Honduras when three fans entered the field of play to try to take a photo or stamp their signature on the back before being removed by members of security, he clarified: “ I am a normal person who does not need much more than the affection of his family and his friends, who are few, but really”.
“It is true, many times it is difficult to lead a normal life, especially when we go out with my family and we cannot go to certain places. I miss doing a lot of things and the boys are the ones who suffer the most because of it, ”she assured.
“I am happy and I do what I like and what I dreamed of as a child”, he completed, noting that he was educated by his parents to live without luxuries and with very marked values, such as those instilled in him by Barcelona, the club in which he was formed. and debuted as a professional.
When asked a question, he left a doubt floating: “I’m not going to be a coach, but (Zinedine) Zidane said that and then he was a coach and champion of the Champions League,” said the Albiceleste captain.
“I like sports management, group assembly, accompanying the coach, but I’m not 100% clear on it either,” he said.
Regarding the World Cup start in zone C, against Saudi Arabia, Mexico and Poland, he maintained that “many boys are going to play their first World Cup, their first game and whether you like that anxiety or not, you don’t know how each one is going to handle it.”
“It will be full of Argentines and that makes you play faster. It is very important to win the first match and it will not be easy. The last World Cup we thought it was going to be easy, that we were going to be first in the group and we were looking at the crosses… and no”, said the former striker for FC Barcelona in Spain. Messi said he considers himself “one of the group” and praised the coach, Lionel Scaloni, for being “a very close person, who talks a lot with the player, who always tries to be there for whatever.”
Recognition
“Scaloni is a person who lives it a lot, works for and for football, loves what he does and suffers a lot from the games. He deserves everything he lived because the process that he had to take on was not easy… he was the one who put all this together, “he acknowledged.
Referring to his departure from Barcelona, Messi explained that it was his children who suffered the most at that time, but also the ones who adapted the fastest and best to the new Parisian environment.
“It was what worried us the most,” he confessed, stating that adapting to a new school and to his children’s new classmates was quite an issue.
“For them it was something normal, but we suffered a lot with Antonella. The first day of school, when we left them at school, we left crying, suffering for them, but it was a waste because it was spectacular, “she completed.
“In Barcelona we had everything, a ready life and arriving in a new place, with a different language, is not easy. New is always scary,” she explained.
In that sense, Barcelona has just reiterated that its dream is to “repatriate” the Argentine who achieved all possible titles with the Catalan club, which saw him leave in 2020 due to the financial crisis he was going through as a result of the pandemic and the bad administrations.
Barcelona contemplates profits of 274 million euros for this season and record revenues of 1,255 million euros, according to the financial vice president, Eduard Romeu.
The figures include income of more than 450 million euros from the transfer of long-term television rights that allowed it to close the season that ended on June 30 with earnings of close to 100 million euros.
“Barcelona returned to the right path and thus enters a new virtuous circle,” said Romeu, noting that expenses for next year amount to 1,065 million euros, of which 656 million correspond to the wage bill, which was cut at 617 million in the 2020-21 season and at 518 million in the previous one.
Faced with this scenario, Romeu acknowledged that Barcelona’s dream is to have Messi again and said: “In this club, he will always have open doors.”
“It is a matter of sports management and if the leadership that deals with the issue wishes it, we will work for that objective,” he anticipated, ruling out that the Argentine’s salary could be the obstacle this time to achieve his long-awaited return. “We have already shown that we are capable of performing miracles”, summed up Romeu, who prays that a new miracle will materialize and Messi will finally return to what was his home for so many years.
Messi, meanwhile, prays to crown his dream of lifting the World Cup and the next one seems to be the last chance he will have to achieve it.
Source: Ambito
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