Barcelona superstar hints at retirement after Copa America defeat - originally posted on Soccerlens.com
When Francisco Silva scored the winning penalty for Chile, Lionel Messi was seen kneeling on to the ground hiding his face, probably crying as well. He sat alone on the dugout bench with a look of a lost man. The five times Ballon d’Or winner was left distraught, heartbroken and shattered.
He is widely regarded as one of the all-time greats. He has won everything in club football with Barcelona. But, he wanted success with his country. Badly. Despite all his heroics with Barcelona, this one criticism that he hasn’t won anything with Argentina puts a blemish on his trophy-laden career.
For the third consecutive year, Argentina have reached the finals of a major tournament and ended up as the second best team. Messi feels that he has reached the dead end of his career at international football. He can’t take this pain and sadness anymore.
“For me the national team is over. I’ve done all I can, it hurts not to be a champion,” Messi said after the match as quoted by the BBC.
The 29-year-old has made 112 appearances for Argentina since making his debut in 2005 and became the leading goal scorer for his country breaking Gabriel Batistuta’s record of 54 goal tally.
Messi has not won a major international apart from a gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Argentina were beaten 1-0 in the 2014 World Cup final by Germany and he has now lost three Copa America finals (2007, 2015, 2016).
Argentina were held to a frustrating 0-0 draw until 120 minutes by Chile, as both teams were reduced to 10-men. Messi was simply brilliant throughout the tournament and played well in the final too, but his missed penalty in the shootout will be a topic of discussion for ages.
The news will come as a shock to all the Argentina fans in the world as nobody wants to see Messi retiring so soon. He still has the age on his side to win something for his country but the question is can he come out of his psychological depression anytime soon?
From Soccerlens.com - Football News | Football Blog
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