Buenos Aires (AFP)
The coach of the Argentine national football team, Lionel Scaloni, confirmed that captain Lionel Messi continues to defend the colors of the world champion “until he says otherwise.”
Scaloni said about his 35-year-old playmaker, who played 172 international matches, before the international friendly match against Panama in Buenos Aires, the first since winning the World Cup in Qatar: “Messi will continue to come (to defend the colors of Argentina) until he says otherwise, I see him happy.” On the field and in the national team.
Scaloni, whose contract was extended until 2026, explained that the goal of his group is to “continue to play at the same level, we can win, we can lose, but we must be a team that is difficult to win, for it now will be more difficult than ever, because all teams You will want to defeat us.”
Scaloni warned his players crowned with the world title against trying to feel comfortable, stressing that a new stage is beginning, and that it is the stadium that speaks, and that no one will have the advantage of being a world champion.
He added, “There are young people who stand out, and we think they will be able to play at a very high level.”
Scaloni alluded to the promising striker of Manchester United, England, Alejandro Garnacho, who was prevented by injury from being in the Argentine camp for the matches against Panama and Curacao, along with Brighton midfielder Facundo Buonanotti and Spanish defender Elche loaned to Rosario of Argentine Lautaro Blanco. The three are 18 years old.
The two matches against modest Panama “Thursday” and then Curaçao next Tuesday will be an opportunity for the Argentine national team to celebrate the title in front of its fans.
And if Scaloni said that he was happy that the players could feel this joy that they gave to people, he also warned that there is “work to be done, and we cannot do what we like because we are world champions.”
And he insisted, “Wearing the Argentine jersey does not allow us to offer anything other than the maximum.”
Scaloni said, in response to questions from journalists regarding “the best Argentine national team in history” among the world champions in Qatar, 1978 in Argentina, and 1986 led by Diego Maradona in Mexico: “This is nonsense. I don’t care which team is better, the three are good, the three world champions.