On December 18, Argentina was proclaimed world champion in Qatar. 43 days after the final won against France on penalties, Leo Messi opened up in his first interview after the World Cup. The captain of the albiceleste recounted how he decided to skip and break all the protocol of the medal ceremony to caress and kiss the trophy. “I couldn’t do what I did but I saw her there and the Cup was calling me. He told me: “That’s it, come and grab me, now you can touch me.” I did not think. I passed by and went to kiss her. I needed it,” he discovered.
In the conversation with the Perros de la calle program of the Urbana Play radio station, Messi revealed several secrets about the championship, the concentration of the Argentine team and the celebration. But he also opened up his feelings and even became religious. “I had once said that I knew that God was going to give me a World Cup. I think it was before 2014. I felt it, I had a feeling that he had this in store for me, and I think he was waiting for the moment. I think there was no better time than this. I thank you every day of my life,” he said.
The crack pointed out the match against Mexico (2-0) as the most difficult of the World Cup, after losing against Saudi Arabia in the debut. “I think it was the game we played the worst because of all that it entailed having to win yes or yes,” he analyzed. And he had great words of praise for Lionel Scaloni and the coaching staff of the albiceleste. “He was not wrong in any of the seven games we played. They knew how to handle themselves at all times, they had the experience of having lived through World Cups or international competitions and I think that at all times they knew exactly what they had to do or say”.
Messi revealed that the night before the final he was “very calm”. “I slept very well. Throughout the World Cup I was very relaxed”. Later, in the penalty shootout, he was seen speaking to himself when Montiel was about to take the decisive penalty. “I think he was talking to Cachete that he was going to kick. He told him to put it in, to make us suffer more. I think I was asking him and God to stop it.”
After the launch, jubilation. “It is difficult to explain what I felt at that moment. A lot of things cross your mind and at the same time it’s like you’re gone, enjoying yourself. You can’t believe we finally made it. I got everything with the national team, as I always dreamed of. It was closing my career in a unique way,” he recalled.
The 10th, chosen as the best player in Qatar 2022, regretted two things about a perfect World Cup for Argentina. One that Maradona was already dead. “I would have liked Diego to give me the cup. That photo would have been very nice too. At least he sees all this, Argentina world champion, with everything he loved the national team, ”he reasoned.
The second thing that would change would be his behavior in the quarterfinals against the Netherlands, with the Riquelme-style celebration before Louis van Gaal’s bench or his confrontation with the Dutch player Wout Weghorst, whom he called a fool in the mixed zone. “I don’t like what I did, I don’t like the ‘go there’ and all that. But hey, these are moments of great tension, a lot of nervousness and everything happens very quickly. You react how you react, but I don’t like to leave that image “
Finally, Messi focuses on the celebrations in Argentina. “It was much more than he imagined and that he did not imagine a little. It was beautiful to come back that way.”
The presenter also raised the possibility of sending a message to the boy Rosario left to reach the lower categories of Barcelona. “I would tell him that something extraordinary awaits him, something that he could not even imagine. That he is going to have a very beautiful path and in the end he is going to have his most desired reward. He’s going to have a happy ending, like it’s a movie.” This is the film called World Cup, according to its great protagonist, Leo Messi.
