Messi takes off a pebble: ‘In Argentina they gave us bankruptcies and instead …’

“Tranquility”, or “peace of mind” if we wanted to translate it literally from English. It is the one that Leo Messi found after Argentina’s victory in the last America’s Cup, his first major triumph with the national team after the disappointments of the past, thanks to the 1-0 in the final over Brazil. “I’m calm, I realized the dream that I had been denied so many times – said La Pulce – It was like a dream, an unforgettable moment. I couldn’t believe it happened. I like to see the images of that moment because I was stunned on the pitch. I didn’t quite understand what was happening ”.

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Messi also experienced the success as a great revenge on his detractors: “A part of the media treated us as failures, saying that we did not feel the responsibility to wear the shirt, that we should not be in the national team. Yet we had always tried, no one more than us wanted that success. It is very difficult to win a World Cup or a Copa America. At the time, they didn’t value what we were doing, they just emphasized that we hadn’t reached the goal. The important thing is to feel satisfied for having given my best … luckily the final time was different ”.

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The six-time winner of the Ballon d’Or was voted player of the tournament thanks to four goals and five assists in the continental competition: “Everything I won was important and beautiful, but this was the most difficult success because it came after a complicated period, one blow after another, ”said Messi, referring to the pandemic and the late change of the headquarters of the America’s Cup. “I finally had a good holiday from the first to the last day – he later said -. Before, I was often embittered. My children always sing Argentine songs, they remember the final against Brazil and it’s great for me to see how they have fun. Every minute they tell me: ‘Dad, you are champion’, I can’t explain it. I would have liked them to be with me but for Covid they could not be present at any match, not even at the final. It was a bit like the price we had to pay. We became champions just when they couldn’t be there with us ”.