Leo Messi is not someone who likes to open up and talk to the media often. Even when he gives interviews, he seems to do it more because he has to. It is mainly phrases and instructions made by PR teams. Rarely has he really said in public what he thinks and feels. However, he seems to have changed over the years, so today he talked quite openly about many things in one of the rare big interviews he gave in recent years.In an interview for the cameras of the Argentine television TyC, the once best football player in the world referred to many important things that have happened to him in the last couple of years. The transfer from Barcelona to PSG, the first big trophy with the national team, the Ballon d’Or, which according to many he did not deserve, the treatment of the fans that bothers him… These are all topics that the Argentine talked about.Starting with the Copa America trophy. The first for Argentina after almost 30 years!”Since last summer, things have happened that I could not have imagined. We managed to win the Copa America after so many years of waiting. It was a summer of pure happiness! I thought everything would stay the same and then what happened in Barcelona happened. It was a difficult change for me”, said Messi.A thread showing some beautiful moments involving Messi in the Copa America victory. pic.twitter.com/BGLSgYUYyi— Gouri🍻 (@GouriCuler) May 30, 2022 A transfer that many thought was impossible to happen. And which so far has not lived up to expectations…”Adaptation was not easy for me. I always say that I had everything in Barcelona. I came there as a child. I lived in Barcelona longer than in Argentina. It was beautiful for me and I didn’t plan to change anything … Fortunately, the children quickly adapted in Paris. Antonela and I had a hard time… We cried the first day they went to school. I have to get used to a lot of new things. I came to a place where the style of play is different than in Barcelona. I knew some players there all my life.”He admits that his health and fitness did not help him in the first season in Paris.”I started the season late because I arrived at the club late. Then I had a break due to a knee injury. After the holidays, I expected everything to be better, but then Covid came and destroyed my lungs. I couldn’t run for almost a month and a half. And just when I was recovering and getting ready, Real Madrid came and “killed us”. Me and the entire dressing room.”Leo Messi with his family after the final game of the season. #PSG pic.twitter.com/keI6oMDPPJ— Leo Messi 🔟 (@WeAreMessi) May 23, 2022 Messi can’t get over the elimination from the Champions League. Especially since it came from one of his biggest rivals.”I want to win it again and I’m sorry that I didn’t succeed this season. A better team does not always win. Without wanting to take away someone’s merits, but Real Madrid was not the best in the Champions League. I know very well what Real Madrid is. We have been rivals all our lives and I knew what could happen to us. They scored a goal out of nowhere and turned the game around. I also knew that they would attack us in the first 15 or 20 minutes. If you endure that, then the game changes. But if something unforeseen happens or a goal is scored, I knew what could happen to us, as it happened to City, Chelsea, Liverpool…””This is not the first time. The Champions League is a situation-driven competition, the best does not always win. There are specific, psychological moments when even the slightest mistake knocks you out. Those who are ready for those situations, reach the finals or become champions. At Real Madrid, they managed those situations the best and that is why they are champions. “Real Madrid showed PSG no MESSI😂😂Ghanaians and creating😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/7y4RSWLoNA— Son Of Irene💙🤟🇬🇭🇳🇬🇯🇲 (@KuamiJamaica99) March 9, 2022 He was a deity in Barcelona. In Paris, the fans booed him and his teammates and that is something he is not used to in his club career.”It was not easy for me this year in Paris, I did not enjoy football as much as I could, but I am convinced that it will change. I know the club, the city and I know that next season will be different. That anger of the fans is incomprehensible to me. It is not the first time that the team dropped out of the Champions League.”I don’t understand the booing… But I have to put that aside and try to help turn the situation around. My children immediately came to my mind and what they would think. I didn’t like it because they had to listen to it. Fortunately, they didn’t understand. They realized that something was happening but not why. They still watch my old goals on YouTube and I am happy about that.”##EDITORS_CHOICE##This is not the first time that Messi has been targeted by fans. For years, he was labeled in the homeland as the main culprit that the Argentine national team cannot win anything. Which is why he temporarily withdrew from the national team.”I have said many times that victories are not the only thing that matters. We did a lot of things that were not appreciated, such as qualifying for the World Cup finals or Copa America. We had bad treatment that we didn’t deserve. We have done a lot for the national team. I don’t remember when the people in Argentina were as happy as during the World Cup in Brazil, and then after the lost final, everything changed.”The truth is that I always did my best. After everything that happened and the era in which I was “killed” in public because of the national team, I had to “swallow” some things. From day to day, things that had nothing to do with the truth were aired on television. After winning the Copa America, I thought about it and saw how happy every Argentine is. I continued to play for the national team because of my wife and children. I am grateful to the Argentine audience whether they support me or not. I think they respect me more today than before.”Almost 50,000 fans attended Argentina’s open training today in Bilbao. Everyone wants to watch Messi kick the ball. They still adore him in Spain 🇦🇷🐐✅ pic.twitter.com/j0h043sq9z— PSG Chief (@psg_chief) May 28, 2022 He does not hide that he also had to change a little – all for collective success.”I enjoy playing defense now. In the national team, now everyone knows their role that they have to play in order to win the game. I like to have the ball in my possession, but that is not always possible. I am also ready to play defense. The team knows what to do with me or without me. When we talk about tactics, we mostly mention the offensive, but we are increasingly witnessing that avoiding conceding goals gives greater chances to win the title. The whole sport has become more tactful.”The upcoming World Cup in Qatar will probably be the last chance for Messi to conquer the world with Argentina.”We have a team that can beat everyone, but that does not mean that we are favorites. I want this trophy for myself, the team, the country of Argentina. What will happen after that, I don’t know. I’ll think about it and we’ll see what happens next. I didn’t even think about leaving Barcelona, but it happened. In football, things change quickly.”His teammate from PSG Kylian Mbappe recently said the South American national teams cannot win the World Cup because their competition is weaker than in Europe.”I did not talk to him after those statements. It is true that I sometimes talked to players from Spain about how difficult it is to win at high altitude in Bolivia or in the heat of Colombia and Venezuela. “We are ready to fight against every national team from Europe.”344 – Most goals in all competitions among all players in Europe’s big five leagues since Robert Lewandowski’s transfer to FC Bayern in July 2014:🥇 #Lewandowski – 344🥈 #Messi – 329🥉 #Ronaldo – 323Era. pic.twitter.com/jjWtJyDVfO— OptaFranz (@OptaFranz) May 30, 2022 He also spoke about the last Ballon d’Or he won. Undeservedly by many. Robert Lewandowski later said that.”Everyone has the right to say what they want. I don’t agree with what he said, but I don’t care much. I said what I thought. I still think he deserved the Ballon d’Or a year earlier, but he didn’t last year. I told him that and he can take whichever way he wants. Benzema deserves it this year and I don’t have the slightest dilemma about it. He won the Champions League and La Liga, had a spectacular season and was a key man in every match in the knockout stages. I am convinced that he will win the Ballon d’Or”.Messi wearing Maradona’s Newell’s shirt (©Gallo Images)He also told the story about how he decided to celebrate the goal for Barcelona in Diego Maradona’s old jersey from Newell’s – four days after Maradona’s death.”When he died, I was lying in bed with Antonela and told her that I had to make a dedication to him. But I didn’t know what kind. It was 11 o’clock at night and I couldn’t sleep. I went into the room that is my football museum with jerseys, trophies, souvenirs… I was looking for some old national team jersey or something. There are small doors that are always closed and I forgot about them because I haven’t opened them in years. Did they miraculously open that night?! And behind them I saw Maradona’s no.10 shirt from Newell’s. That was it. Destiny.”.Wed 21:45: (2.90) Italy (3.00) Argentina (2.65)Messi is preparing with the national team for a duel against Italy in a kind of a Super Cup between the champions of South America and Europe.”I hope we will beat Italy. If they had qualified for the World Cup, they would have been one of the favorites there. I’m sure no one wants them as opponents in big competitions. It’s completely crazy that they failed to qualify.”
