“My family suffered much more than me, because they were affected by both victories and defeats much more than I was. Over the years, my mother, my father, my brothers, my grandchildren… have suffered. having to live with the criticism that always comes with the team, the same criticism that always comes at me. A lot of criticism. That feeling at the end was like ‘there, we finally did it. We have won a lot of things, but the best thing is still winning a World Cup. It’s done, it’s all done,'” Messi shared.

He also talked about Maradona, the last captain to lead Argentina to a World Cup title before the tournament in Qatar. “During the whole World Cup, Diego was always present, because we were wearing the team shirt, and we wanted when we were wearing the team shirt, he was always there. He was present in the songs, on the the stands, in the hearts of everyone who still calls his name, still remembers him.”

Conflict with Lewandowski and the Netherlands

In Qatar, Messi also had many collisions with opponents’ players or coaches, including Robert Lewandowski. For Lewandowski, it all comes down to an old conflict. “What he said before annoyed me, because when I received the Ballon d’Or I only said what I thought,” Messi revealed.

“After the match, when we talked directly to each other, it turned out it was all just a misunderstanding.” Messi also admitted that he intentionally dribbled past Lewandowski again because he felt uncomfortable with the Polish striker. “I don’t remember what he said, but I felt uncomfortable.”

But the biggest collision Messi got into during his time in Qatar had to be with the Netherlands, their opponents in the quarter-finals. He admitted that he was “spicy” towards Louis van Gaal and his team before the match.

“I didn’t mean to overdo it, but like what happened with Lewandowski, I don’t like people attacking each other on the field and deliberately degrading their opponents,” Messi explained. “On the field, it’s OK. But ‘teasing’ each other before the match and getting angry by saying bad things about opponents is something I’ve never done and don’t like anyone doing to me. He (Van Gaal) obviously did that on purpose.” . Also the goalkeeper. I don’t like things like that,” Messi said.

Being proactive, Messi had a number of actions that he considered to be out of bounds, especially the celebration by raising his hands to his ears to pose as the cartoon mouse Topo Gigio with the intention of targeting Van Gaal. “As soon as I did it, I regretted it,” Messi recalled. “I thought to myself, ‘this is stupid, what am I doing’… But what I regret most is that we could have won before instead of letting them equalize (and have to settle on the score). 11m)”.

See you at World Cup 2026?

When asked about the possibility of continuing to play for the national team until the 2026 World Cup, Messi did not deny it. “I will always give my best, I will be the first to know if I can be there or not,” Messi said. “I’m aware that I’m playing in a less competitive league, but a lot of things in life happen because of our character, the way we approach it.”

“As long as I feel good, I will continue to contribute. But right now the only thing I think about is Copa America, how to have the best preparation, fight and win the championship.” as we always do. Time will tell if I’m okay. I don’t want to talk about the next World Cup yet. The reality is that when the tournament comes around, I’ll be at an age that’s usually no longer appropriate. That’s why I said before that I thought I wouldn’t go to the World Cup again.”

After all, if Messi wants to attend the 2026 World Cup, it’s because he likes it. He is no longer obliged to win the world championship. “I can proudly say that in my work I have achieved everything. When you say you have done everything a footballer can dream of, when you have nothing left to prove Again, that’s the best thing.”