As quoted by Olé, Argentina and PSG forward Lionel Messi has stated his joy at playing under current coach national team Lionel Scaloni. Now 35, Messi went on to discuss how he has matured with age, saying:
“Scaloni always had a very special personality. He’s a very good coach. What he does best is communication and how he manages the group. He opted to choose players that he thought would be the best for the national team, he’s confident and does not look at what others say. The way the players have been treated makes the group what it is today. I’ve learned to enjoy things in a different way because of my age and I realise that there’s less and less to go before everything ends. Today, I’m enjoy everything much more, the day to day with my club and the national team. There’s now a very good group since the Copa América in Brazil – winning makes everything much easier, more natural. But nowadays I think people don’t measure success only by winning or losing, and that’s important. If we’d lost the 2021 Copa América final against Brazil, they would have criticised me more. Now the press and the public don’t just look at winning or losing. We lost the 2014 World Cup final and they unfairly criticised us a lot.”
GWFN