Lionel Messi is happy at Barcelona but not in Argentina, former Barcelona coach and fellow Argentinean Cesar Luis Menotti said on Monday.
Menotti, 78, blamed the environment which surrounds football in Argentina for the reason fans see a different Messi for Barcelona than for his national team and even suggested the Argentine Football’s Association’s (AFA) poor planning and preparation was responsible for failing to consistently get the best out of Messi.
“At Barcelona Messi is happy,” Menotti said in an interview with Diario Sport. “But it seems he’s not allowed to be [happy] here [in Argentina]. We live in so much anguish that we don’t allow him to be happy and because the environment is not good, the team doesn’t manage to play well.
“Without Messi we would not have got through the first round at the World Cup. When everything seems like it’s falling in Argentina, Messi appears and he builds. But he’s not happy because there is an environment of resentfulness. This is how we live.”
It’s not the first time the AFA have been called into question.
Messi himself called them a “disaster” after a flight mix-up at the Copa America in the summer and he reportedly paid Argentina’s security staff out of his own pocket during a dispute with the nation’s football federation last week.
The AFA has been in turmoil for over two years following the death of longtime chief Julio Grondona, and FIFA took control in June after president Luis Segura was charged with fraud. Elections are expected to take place in the coming months.
Messi, along with Barca teammate Javier Mascherano, travelled to a recent World Cup qualifier as passengers on the private jet of Brazil rival Neymar. Those are the sort of things which Menotti said annoy him as he thinks the AFA are guilty of not looking after their players properly.
“To have a five-star footballer, you have to respect him and take care of him,” he added. “We haven’t done that well. There are players that are at the top level in Europe and they feel the weight [of playing for Argentina] because there’s an urgency for success.
“I don’t understand it, because Argentina has never done anything well. They don’t prepare well, they bring the players [across from Europe for matches] how they bring them and they’ve changed managers seven times in 10 years.”
It’s not just the AFA who felt the wrath of Menotti’s tongue, though, with the former Barcelona coach also taking aim at the journalists who have criticised the players’ performances with their national team.
“These kids have a great sense of belonging,” he said. “They’re good kids. The insults hurt them. They have families. They can’t deal with so much infamy and cruelty. There’s no shame in journalism, [journalists] should not be able to call anyone a rat. It hurts.”
Argentina followed up a recent loss against Brazil with a 3-0 win over Colombia, led by Messi.
After the game, surrounded by his teammates, the Barca forward gave a short statement explaining that the players were boycotting national media.
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