Sports
Diego Costa dropped a truth bomb about Lionel Messi and Argentina after 6-1 defeat to Spain
The Barcelona superstar did all he could to lead Argentina to the World Cup and, on last night’s evidence, his teammates are in no position to help him out when the tournament in Russia gets underway.
A hamstring injury forced Messi to miss the friendly against Spain but he watched on from the stands.
However, when Isco made it 6-1, Messi was spotted leaving his box. He had had enough.
Messi has carried Argentina throughout the years but on this showing, even his very best won’t be enough to end La Albiceleste’s 32-year wait for a World Cup win.
It’s clear that Jorge Sampaoli has some work to do before his Argentina side take on Iceland in their first group game.
Spain dismantled Argentina last night, and Diego Costa’s comments after the match about Messi perfectly summed up the situation that the South American nation find themselves in.
DIEGO COSTA HAS SPOKEN ABOUT MESSI’S ABSENCE
“When Messi is not playing, Argentina transform into another team. Our style is different if we face Messi,” Costa said.
“In Argentina, they love to to criticise Messi a lot. Today, they have seen what they are without Messi. Argentina have to take care of Leo; they have to be grateful.
“Argentina have to imagine, ‘If Messi weren’t there for them, how would they get by?’”
Brutally honest from Costa, who was among the scorers at the Wanda Metropolitano stadium last night.
It’s nearly impossible to disagree with him.
Sampaoli’s attack against Spain included Gonzalo Higuain, Ever Banega, Giovani Lo Celso and Maximiliano Meza and it makes sense to wonder how Paulo Dybala cannot get into the Argentinian squad.
The Juventus forward was left out of the squad, alongside with Inter Milan striker Mauro Icardi, and Sampaoli has admitted that Dybala may not be on the plane to Russia.
“It is complicated for Dybala to get used to our system,” Sampaoli said last week, per the Daily Mail .
“We couldn’t improve his performances and we have to evaluate if the current players [in this squad] are better than Paulo or if we have to keep working with Paulo to improve his performance.”
Something, somewhere, has gone wrong if Dybala cannot get into the side.
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