In a documentary dedicated to Argentina’s World Cup victory, Lionel Messi looks back on the long period when he was not as appreciated in his country as in Barcelona.
No, Lionel Messi has not always been a living God in Argentina. For a long period, because he was unable to bring the Albiceleste to the top, the eight-time Ballon d’Or was regularly taken aback in his country, by a population crazy about football, who criticized him for not to be as decisive with the national team jersey as the idol Diego Maradona could be.
“I had a bad time. My family and the people who love me too. (The critics in Argentina) were very unfair to a generation of players and they said a lot of bad things about me. I don’t hold grudges, but it’s impossible not to suffer.”confides Messi in an interview which will be broadcast on Disney Star+, and certain passages of which are relayed by ESPN.
“For me it is a triumph to have changed this situation and won over all the Argentine people. Today, 95 or 100% of Argentinians love me and it’s a wonderful feeling”explains the 2022 champion.
Among the criticisms made of Messi in the past, there was the fact that he was not the same with FC Barcelona as with Argentina. As if the kid from Rosario, who left for Catalonia at a very young age, was more attached to his club than to his country. “I lived in two opposing realities,” confides Messi. In Barcelona I won often and had all the support, love and respect from everyone. In Argentina the situation was totally different, with criticism everywhere. » These times have changed a lot now…
