Lionel Messi to consider retirement from international football after World Cup

[Arham_PakFan]

Lionel Messi says the future of his international career depends on how Argentina do at the World Cup.

The five-time Ballon d'Or winner originally announced his international retirement when Argentina lost the Copa America final for the second successive year to Chile in 2016, and said criticism from media in his home country was a big factor in his decision.

Messi - who had suffered defeat in the 2014 World Cup final to Germany - changed his mind shortly after and led Argentina through a poor World Cup qualification campaign with a hat-trick in their must-win final game against Ecuador

Lionel Messi will lead Argentina at the World Cup in Russia - and it could be his last shot at the biggest prize in football
Only "God and Messi" will decide if Argentina can win this year's tournament, according to their president Mauricio Macri, and the Barcelona forward has hinted it could be his last attempt.

Asked if he will retire after the World Cup, Messi told Spanish newspaper Sport: "I don't know. It will depend how we do, how it ends.

"The fact we've lost three finals now has led to some complicated moments with the Argentine press due to the differences in seeing what it means to reach a final.

"It is not easy and [reaching three finals] has to be appreciated. It's true that winning them is important, but getting there is not easy."

https://www.google.com.pk/amp/www.s...consider-argentina-retirement-after-world-cup

 

[hadi123]

Drama queen. Good player but never liked him. He's retired before after throwing a tantrum when they lost a final IIRC

 

[Mamoon]

Calling him a good player is an understatement. He is the greatest of all time, and has been let down time and time again by his Argentinian teammates.

 

[Greenstorm]

I hope legend retires with the world cup trophy in his hands.

 

[big_gamer007]

Drama queen. Good player but never liked him. He's retired before after throwing a tantrum when they lost a final IIRC

Who better than him in history? One can argue about Ronald Apart from that?

 

[hadi123]

Who better than him in history? One can argue about Ronald Apart from that?

Not denying he's a good player but don't like his behaviour sometimes

 

[Smbhayi]

Who better than him in history? One can argue about Ronald Apart from that?

Ronaldo R9

 

[KingKhanWC]

Calling him a good player is an understatement. He is the greatest of all time, and has been let down time and time again by his Argentinian teammates.

Argentinians dont feel the same as you. For them Maradonna is the greatest of all time because he won the World Cup for Argentina and that too with an average team. Argentinians dont care what Messi does for Barcelona.

If he doesn't win the biggest prize in football now, he should retire from international football.

 

[Slog]

Argentinians dont feel the same as you. For them Maradonna is the greatest of all time because he won the World Cup for Argentina and that too with an average team. Argentinians dont care what Messi does for Barcelona.

If he doesn't win the biggest prize in football now, he should retire from international football.

Not that I hold him as GOAT but why should the opinion of Argentinians hold sway over Barcelona fans who are found globally and are much more in number.

Many neutrals and experts also rate him as GOAT so why should opinions of few million Argentinians supersede them?

 

[blackanhyellow]

I really hope he wins it this time.

Deserves it.

Although last world cup was probably Argentina's best chance.

 

[RainMan_]

Hope Argentina gets out from the group stage.

 

[KingKhanWC]

Not that I hold him as GOAT but why should the opinion of Argentinians hold sway over Barcelona fans who are found globally and are much more in number.

Many neutrals and experts also rate him as GOAT so why should opinions of few million Argentinians supersede them?

I agree it should'nt and was only pointing out what his own countrymen feel.

I do however agree with them Maradonna is the GOAT. But of course it's an opinion based issue.

 

[yasir]

Calling him a good player is an understatement. He is the greatest of all time, and has been let down time and time again by his Argentinian teammates.

Argentinians dont feel the same as you. For them Maradonna is the greatest of all time because he won the World Cup for Argentina and that too with an average team. Argentinians dont care what Messi does for Barcelona.

If he doesn't win the biggest prize in football now, he should retire from international football.

Not that I hold him as GOAT but why should the opinion of Argentinians hold sway over Barcelona fans who are found globally and are much more in number.

Many neutrals and experts also rate him as GOAT so why should opinions of few million Argentinians supersede them?

No body has topped Maradonna yet. I have been watching foot ball for 35 years, the performance Maradonna had in 1986, was greatest performance of all time. He single handedly won the World Cup, that we have yet to experience before or after him...Maradona was play maker, skill wise a tier above Messi...


Plus Messi does not handle pressure that well, I would say he chokes a bit in WCs, he wanted to retire after last time... Last World Cup final, Messi missed such an easy chance, see video below at 2:45, how could he miss such an opportunity?? - That was not the only blooper in that game...

You can go back and check Maradona's goals in knockout round of 1986, one of the best individual goals of all time. There is no comparison!!

 

[Slog]

No body has topped Maradonna yet. I have been watching foot ball for 35 years, the performance Maradonna had in 1986, was greatest performance of all time. He single handedly won the World Cup, that we have yet to experience before or after him...Maradona was play maker, skill wise a tier above Messi...


Plus Messi does not handle pressure that well, I would say he chokes a bit in WCs, he wanted to retire after last time... Last World Cup final, Messi missed such an easy chance, see video below at 2:45, how could he miss such an opportunity?? - That was not the only blooper in that game...

You can go back and check Maradona's goals in knockout round of 1986, one of the best individual goals of all time. There is no comparison!!

On a year to year basis Messi smokes Maradona

Maradona had a lot of mediocre seasons aswell and was obviously a failure at Barcelona

Messi has been bossing it for 12 years now

 

[yasir]

On a year to year basis Messi smokes Maradona

Maradona had a lot of mediocre seasons aswell and was obviously a failure at Barcelona

Messi has been bossing it for 12 years now

Who cares about Barcelona? - First off, Spanish league is flawed, two teams are way stronger than others, they have all the money, obviously they are going to win most of the time. They are filled with starts. They have gone strength to strength with every decade, players have less to do with it, money conc in two teams...Spanish league overall is not that good.

US sports leagues are generally much better, they don’t let super team happen, system works such a way, as a result you have lot of competitive games.

Getting back to the point, Maradona and Pete are Don Bredman of soccer, nobody else comes close. I don’t need to look at stats, If you have not seen Maradona play, then you are not going to get it.

 

[Slog]

Who cares about Barcelona? - First off, Spanish league is flawed, two teams are way stronger than others, they have all the money, obviously they are going to win most of the time. They are filled with starts. They have gone strength to strength with every decade, players have less to do with it, money conc in two teams...Spanish league overall is not that good.

US sports leagues are generally much better, they don’t let super team happen, system works such a way, as a result you have lot of competitive games.

Getting back to the point, Maradona and Pete are Don Bredman of soccer, nobody else comes close. I don’t need to look at stats, If you have not seen Maradona play, then you are not going to get it.

Most people care about Barceona, La Liga and Champions League. More than the World Cup

Times have changed now and the gulf in prestige between the World Cup and top European club competitions is minimal. In earlier decades the best players in the world gathered for the World Cup whereas year round they would play in their own leagues for the most part. Now all the best players in the world are concentrated in the top 3 or so European leagues so times have changed

 

[yasir]

Oh boy, Messi was very messy today. Same thing happen in last WC final. You cannot blame the team. He kind of chokes in WC every now and then

 

[Protea Fan]

Calling him a good player is an understatement. He is the greatest of all time, and has been let down time and time again by his Argentinian teammates.

Why didn't you get bored saying this again and again

He's a great player and aesthetically pleasing to watch but a bonafide bottler who has got an heart of a sparrow

Calling him GOAT is such a disgrace statement to some of great players who showed their best when the going gets tough

 

[karthikc]

Maradona is God for the people of Naples also

 

[Oligochaetes]

Is Messi, the footballing equivalent of ABDV? .

Failure in world cups.

 

[Ab Fan]

Messi is one of the greatest but he has been completely outclassed by CR7 over the last few years.

If there can be just one GOAT, then we all know who it is.

 

[MenInG]

Sad figure of Messi walking back to the bus tonight. Is that it for him?

 

[MenInG]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">People criticising Messi but this <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ARG?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ARG</a> squad is the weakest I have ever seen at a World Cup. Without Messi this team wouldn't even have qualified for the World Cup or reached the last 16 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WorldCup?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WorldCup</a></p>— Saj Sadiq (@Saj_PakPassion) <a href="https://twitter.com/Saj_PakPassion/status/1013103521913278465?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 30, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[MMHS]

Recently he did say that he won't retire before winning WC, but might be misquoted in British media. About 10-12 players have played their last game for Argentina tonight; therefore they'll need to rebuild. I think, it could be a good idea to keep playing and help rebuild. More than Messi, I think Argentina needs a Manager like Packerman or Simioni, they do have the talent for sure.

 

[Hasan123]

Argentina like Germany,will be having a period of rebuilding new teams. Don't expect many of this Argentina squad to play in 2022.

 

[Kroll]

Argentinians dont feel the same as you. For them Maradonna is the greatest of all time because he won the World Cup for Argentina and that too with an average team. Argentinians dont care what Messi does for Barcelona.

If he doesn't win the biggest prize in football now, he should retire from international football.

Agree with this, for me - Maradona is still the greatest. For all the lamenting over this Argentina side as the weakest in a world cup, it can be argued Maradona single handedly carried Argentina to World Cup glory back in 1986.

 

[MMHS]

Agree with this, for me - Maradona is still the greatest. For all the lamenting over this Argentina side as the weakest in a world cup, it can be argued Maradona single handedly carried Argentina to World Cup glory back in 1986.

Those 2 goals against ENG & Belgium, are the best 2 goals for me in WC. We have seen stunning shots in WC, but one man taking the entire back-line behind him like the piper of Hamilion ....

Most people don't recall his another magic - in 1990 2nd Round, Brazil was bigger favorite than what was France today, and for 89 minutes Brazil kept pressing (& missing), until Maradona took the ball at own half, ran through entire Brazil defense, pulled 2/3 markers close to him and then released a perfectly timed through ball for Canigia, beating off-side to score. That was, as good a job as his goal against England, but scorer was someone else.

 

[Pakistanian]

Most people care about Barceona, La Liga and Champions League. More than the World Cup

Times have changed now and the gulf in prestige between the World Cup and top European club competitions is minimal. In earlier decades the best players in the world gathered for the World Cup whereas year round they would play in their own leagues for the most part. Now all the best players in the world are concentrated in the top 3 or so European leagues so times have changed

Not true at all. The world cup has an unparalleled prestige compared, it happens only once every 4 years making it harder to win whereas players alway have a shot at the champions league every year. Besides, winning for your country is a whole nother feeling compared to winning for a club.

 

[Geordie Ahmed]

Sad figure of Messi walking back to the bus tonight. Is that it for him?

I think it's very possible he'll retire, if he played for a European country then I think he'd continue as still at a decent age BUT the travelling to South America makes it tough

 

[James]

Who better than him in history? One can argue about Ronald Apart from that?

Maradona and CR7 for sure.

Maybe Pele too.

Perhaps also Fat Ronaldo and George Best.