An open letter to Lionel Messi from an Argentina fan

Lionel Messi's shock retirement certainly has left the international arena with a huge void to fill.

credit: SportsKeeds

Señor Leo,

Commissaries on yet another excruciating final defeat in a major tournament. It is really gruelling to endure such losses in quick succession, especially when the hopes of an entire nation rest on your shoulders. I'm no expert to advice you on what you should do and what you shouldn't. I'm writing this letter only in my puny capacity as a fan. A fan of this beautiful game, which you have mastered more than anyone who has walked on the face of this planet.There was a sense of optimism brewing amongst the Argentine faithful that tonight will be the night which will heal over 23 years of heartbreak. There was no undermining the fact that a monumental task in the form of defending champions awaited you as the final hurdle. And as it was, the result was disappointing, to say the least, but it wasn't the most shocking news which I was going hear in the day.The news of your abject retirement from international football was not only saddening but heart wrenching, to an extent.

The most gifted footballer of all time was hanging his boots. In all honesty, your retirement isn't the part which shook the life out of me. Rather, it was the manner and the circumstances in which you chose to bid adieu.Lionel Messi, the symbol of the beautiful game, was at last crudely slayed. And here pop a few questions in my mind, is this the best Leo can do? Has he exhausted his immeasurable potential? The guy who played God-esque football was truly and squarely conquerable.And here I am sitting baffled and flabbergasted in front of my TV, wondering what broke this feisty bloke bred in Barcelona to such an extent. There are winners and above them are champions. There is a fine line which makes the latter immortal. I always thought of you as a champion for the sheer hardships you've endured to scale all these glorious peaks. Alas! Today that notion of mine is crumbling to pieces.The sole reason for this raging storm is your statement after the match. "This is the end". Yes, this is the end. Not only yours but a generation of Argentine footballers. Their messiah, their leader has been defeated. And there is no way to save a doomed ship which is led by a guillotined captain.With this decision, you may want to pave way for a new generation who can do better.

But if one of the best players of all-time can't do it, then who possibly can? And this is no hypothesis, the news of your teammates' imminent retirement for La Albiceleste is a testament to this. Today, it wasn't the end of your international career but it signalled the demise of perhaps, the most gifted group of Argentine footballers in over quarter of a century.There is a raging debate which has plagued every international footballer. The great old club vs country strife. The ghosts of scepticism in Buenos Aires have always loomed over your radiant persona. You were considered as an 'outsider' in Argentina largely due to your love and unconditional loyalty towards La Blaugrana. But you, time after time, not only proved them wrong but also made them eat their words. Yet, all this seems futile as these pseudo-detractors stand vindicated.Speaking of club football, has your unparalleled success in Catalonia killed your appetite for glory? The look on your face after the final whistle was of a man who is out of his depth. A dead man walking with no zeal to succeed whatsoever.

The man in New Jersey wasn't the Messi we all know. This wasn't a man who was beaten but obliterated to his very core. Is the chaos in the football administration a catalyst in this apocalyptic decision. All this paranoia off the field has made your retirement even more gruesome for Argentinian football. Argentina may surely not deserve you at the moment but you're the one it desperately needs to salvage itself from this era of pandemonium. International glory or not, your status as one of the all-time greats will never be under any threat. But your unceremonious exit from the international arena will always be your Achilles Heel.Yours truly,

A fan.

Barcelona must take care of Messi after heartbreaking Argentina Exit

Credit: Goal.com

The 29-year-old is at his lowest ebb following the Albiceleste's Copa America final defeat, and the decision to walk out on his nation leaves the Blaugrana with mixed feelings

While it may be little consolation for a player currently experiencing the worst moment of his professional life, it is nevertheless true. Lionel Messi may have brought the curtain down on his Argentina career after another heartbreaking Copa America final defeat, but he still has Barcelona to count on. The Catalans now must look after their star, who finished the tournament a broken man. 

"I had never seen him so destroyed," Sergio Aguero told reporters shortly after Chile confirmed their second successive Copa triumph over Argentina on penalties. Messi had once again dragged his team to the decisive match, but just as in 2015 the vagaries of the shoot-out and fate itself intervened. 

Now there will be no more second chances. "The national team is over for me," he declared, barely holding back the tears which had flowed freely after the game. Barring a shock change of mind, Messi will never again pull on the Albiceleste shirt. A FIFA Under-20 World Cup title in 2005 and a gold medal at the 2008 Olympic Games, days after being awarded Ronaldinho's '10' shirt at Barca, will stand as his sole achievements with the Seleccion. 

Messi has been through hell in the past 24 hours, and although Barcelona will be relieved that the ever-present danger of injuries on international duty has now ended, they have every reason to be worried about how the wizard bounces back from his toughest defeat yet. 

This writer has been bewildered at times with comments from his native country, questioning or even disparaging Messi's performances with Argentina. While he is softly-spoken, Messi is as Argentine as they come. He cannot stand losing, even at marbles, and he has never given less than his all for his country. 

His call, then, can be read as a means of giving way to a new generation to try what he never managed: breaking that 23-year trophy drought that hangs like a millstone round Albiceleste shoulders. Messi does not open his mouth too often, but when he does it is worth listening. He is no hothead - the decision to retire would have been thought about long and hard before reverberating across the world. 

Messi's retirement will be met with mixed reactions in Argentina. There will always be a critic available to slam his decision, and to point out his record with the national team is a shadow of his Barcelona best. His club, meanwhile, will also look forward to the future with consternation. Their star will have just a month to pick himself up before he restarts normal training in Catalunya, and can show his doubters that even though Chile won the Copa America he remains the finest player on the planet. 

Above all, Messi still has Barcelona, even though the hustle and bustle of La Liga might well be the last thing on his mind in these bleak moments.

VAMOS MESSI

Lionel Messi: Timeline of his Argentina Career

Lionel Messi sensationally announced his retirement from international football after Argentina crashed to an upset defeat against Chile in the final of the Copa America. 

   1.   Messi makes international debut

   2.   Messi scores first international goal

On March 1, 2006 he scored his first international goal, against Croatia

   3.     Messi wins Olympic gold

Messi guided Argentina to the gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

  4.    Messi - A mess in 2010 World Cup

Was part of the Argentina team coached by Diego Maradona that exited the 2010 World Cup after losing 4-0 to Germany in the quarter-finals. Messi failed to score and struggled to find his best form at the tournament in South Africa.

  5.    Messi - The hat-trick man

In early 2013, Messi scored his first Argentina hat-trick in a 3-1 friendly win away to Switzerland and bagged another three in the 4-3 win over Brazil in June.

  6.   Messi surpasses Maradona

Also in 2013, Messi scored a hat-trick against Guatemala to overtake Diego Maradona's international goals tally.

  7.   Messi disappoints in 2014 World Cup too

At the 2014 World Cup, Messi was unable to give his fans the fitting finale as Argentina were beaten by Germany in the final.

  8.   Messi scores a hat-trick in 19 minutes

Messi wowed during Argentina's run to the 2016 Copa America final, scoring a 19-minute hat-trick off the bench against Panama.

   9.   Heartbreaking

However, the end was heart-breaking. In the final, Messi missed a penalty in the shootout and Argentina were beaten by Chile for the second year in a row. After the loss, Messi said he was quitting international football.

Thank you Leo for giving us such amazing memory and era of football. We will miss you in international Football matches. Vamos Messiiiii

   

Argentina begs Lionel Messi not to quit

Credit: TOI

BUENOS AIRES: Argentine football legend Diego Maradona and the country's President Mauricio Macri urged Lionel Messi on Monday not to leave the national team despite his vow to quit after a humiliating defeat.

The Barcelona superstar left the field in tears after missing a spot-kick in the Copa America Centenario final shootout against Chile on Sunday.

He promptly told reporters he was quitting, throwing Argentine football into turmoil ahead of the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

"He has to stay because he still has playing days ahead of him," Maradona was quoted as saying by La Nacion newspaper online.

"He will go to Russia in form to be world champion."

Messi, 29, is widely rated as the best player in the world, but Sunday's loss was his fourth defeat in an international final for Argentina.

After an outpouring of disappointment by fans online, Macri joined the calls for the Barcelona superstar to stay with Argentina.

"He called him and told him how proud he feels of the national team's performance and asked him not to listen to the criticism," a spokesman for Macri told AFP by telephone.

The 1986 World Cup winner Maradona, 55, blamed Argentina's recent lack of trophies on the country's football association (AFA).

He accused it of not supporting Messi and letting him take the blame for Sunday's defeat.

"Those who are saying he should quit are doing it so that we won't see what a disaster Argentine football has become," La Nacion quoted Maradona as saying.

Messi and the squad landed back in Buenos Aires on Monday evening after the tournament in the United States.

Television cameras followed their coach but the players had yet to make any comment to the media.

Messi is loved in Barcelona but his friends complained of how harshly he has been judged in his homeland.

"This lad is just saturated with criticism and being so badly treated," said Ernesto Vecchio, who was Messi's first coach in his native city of Rosario.

"I don't want him to quit but when I put myself in his shoes it seems unfair that they should look to him as the savior when there are 11 players on the team."

Messi's cool head on the pitch makes him an efficient goalscorer, but his reserved manner has drawn criticism.

Ahead of this month's Copa, Maradona himself accused Messi of having "no personality" for a captain.

Messi has been named FIFA World Player of the Year five times. But he has been haunted by comparisons with Maradona, who led Argentina to World Cup triumph in 1986.

The star's departure could herald a broader change in the Argentina line-up.

Manchester City star Sergio Aguero warned other players could also quit the national side.

"We were all devastated in the dressing room, particularly Leo, I'd never seen him in such a state," he said.

"Several players are wondering whether to continue."

Aguero did not say whether he would follow Messi in quitting but he, Javier Mascherano and Gonzalo Higuain were mentioned in media reports.

Argentina were beaten 1-0 by Germany in the final of the 2014 World Cup and lost on penalties, also to Chile, in the 2015 Copa America final.

Messi also tasted defeat with Argentina in the final of the 2007 Copa America.

In this month's Copa semi-final win over the United States, he became Argentina's top international scorer of all time with his 55th goal.

But after Sunday's final, his typical composure gave way to tears of frustration.

"I've done all I can, I've been in four finals and it hurts not to be a champion," Messi told reporters.

"It's a hard moment for me and the team, and it's difficult to say, but it's over with the Argentina team."

His departure left many fans no longer thinking about the Copa.

Maradona calls on Messi to continue with Argentina

Maradona: "They've left Messi alone and I don't want him to be alone."

Maradona: "I want to talk to Messi,To fight for those who were left alone, from first to last."

Maradona: "Messi has to stay in the national team... He will go to Russia in form to be world champion."

Maradona: "I have a feeling they just told him: 'Go and for the love of God do something to save us.' We were a mess and they left him alone."

Diego Maradona insists Lionel Messi must not follow through on his vow to quit international football.

An emotional Messi dropped a bombshell following Argentina's heartbreaking 4-2 penalty shoot-out loss to Chile in the Copa America Centenario final on Sunday, announcing his intention to walk away from the national team.

The 29-year-old's revelation came in the wake of Argentina's third consecutive defeat in a major final as their 23-year wait for a title continued.

But Argentine legend Maradona - regarded as one of the greatest footballers of all-time - said Messi, whom he coached during his time as national team boss between 2008 and 2010, must play at the 2018 World Cup.

Lionel Messi ● The Top 10 Disallowed Goals in Career

Watch how some brilliant strikes of Leo Messi (back-heel, chest goal, chip, free kicks) were disallowed by both right and wrong calls by referees. Messi Magic™ presents you the compilation of Messi's best disallowed goals that no one ever highlighted so far. The original compilation was on Messi's top 5 disallowed goals. This second version featuring top 10 disallowed goals with the improvement of quality, commentary and music. Enjoy a different type of Messi Top 10 goals. Messi Disallowed Goals: Many of Leo Messi's insane goals were disallowed by wrong calls. They were not only quality goals, they were crucial goals too. In 2010/11 season Messi's free kick vs Sevilla was disallowed by wrong call for which Barcelona drew 1-1. In 2012/13 season another goal vs Real Sociedad was also disallowed which cost Barcelona another match. Few weeks ago another hundred percent valid Messi goal was disallowed for offside when it was never offside. And what happened in 2013/14 vs Atletico Madrid is irrecoverable. Messi's TITLE WINNING goal was disallowed which was 100% valid & onside. Here is the list of messi's top 10 disallowed goal. Sometimes i feel referee does like a blind fellow. I saw many times in messi's case this things happen. Share your views and comments ... Visaca Barca

Summary: Argentina vs Chile

Unfortunately we lost the match but our king Leo Messi won our heart. How can people blame on him and say that because of him Argentina lost. They forgot that because of him Argentina reached in all finals. After seeing this i felt supporters of Argentina are such a Asshole. In interview Aguero said that they treat him like criminal and take lost as the hardest thing as they ever took. It just feel shame on them who cant thank messi for his game and dedication.
You watch this video and show that assholes too who think Messi didn't do anything in match and we lost.


Must share your feedback and comment. Visca Barca