The leader of the Argentina national team noted that the 1986 world champion Maradona “cheered for the team from heaven”
Photo: Dan Mullan/Getty Images
The leader of the Argentina national team, Lionel Messi, dedicated the victory at the World Cup to all the fans, the Argentine footballers who failed to win this trophy, as well as Diego Maradona. The forward made a corresponding post on his Instagram (the owner of the social network, Meta, is recognized as an extremist organization in Russia and banned).
“Almost 30 years have passed from Grandoli (the first children’s team of Messi. – RBC) to the World Cup in Qatar. It was almost three decades during which football gave me a lot of joy and a little sadness. I always had a dream of becoming world champion and I didn’t want to stop trying, even knowing that it might never happen,” Messi wrote.
“This cup is for all those who did not achieve this at the previous world championships in which we played, for example, in 2014 in Brazil (where the Argentines lost in the final. – RBC). <...> Also for Diego [Марадоны]who cheered for us from heaven. And for all those who have always supported the national team, looking not so much at the result, but at the desire that we always showed, even when everything did not go according to plan, ”Messi added.
Argentina in the 2022 World Cup final in Qatar won over the French team in the penalty shootout (3:3 after extra time, 4:2 in the penalty shootout). Messi scored two goals in the final match and also converted his attempt in the penalty shootout.
The Argentines have previously won the World Cup in 1978 and 1986, and have also played in the finals three times.
Maradona passed away in November 2020 at the age of 60.