Argentina captain Lionel Messi had a relaxed chat on his nephew Tomas Messi’s YouTube channel ‘Dispuestos a Todo’ before the Albiceleste’s second training session in Atlanta, as they prepare for their Copa America debut on Thursday.
As Messi revealed, the elimination of Argentina that hurt him the most was the 2011 Copa America, which was played in his own country and in which the Albiceleste lost 4-5 in a penalty shootout to Uruguay in the quarter-finals. “I remember that in the Copa America 2011, in Santa Fe, I was booed from all corners. It was hard for me and the whole national team,” Messi confessed.
In another of his ‘secrets’, Messi also stated that he sleeps alone at Argentina national team training camps.
Disputes with Ramos
The No.10, when asked about the player with whom he has argued the most on the pitch, did not hesitate to point to fo former Real Madrid player Sergio Ramos.
“With Sergio Ramos we fought a lot. He was the player I was most angry with. After that we were team-mates, but in the Clasicos we always clashed. The Clasicos were intense,” he said.
Of his Albiceleste teammates he said: “Otamendi is the best dressed in the national team, Di Maria is the one who makes the nicest mates (tea) and De Paul is the messiest”.
Messi also admitted that he does not know his country as well as he would like and that after his retirement from football he would like to travel around and go to the Iguazu Falls. “I’ve yet to see more of Argentina because I’ve never had the chance and it’s something we always talk about with Antonela, we want to visit it. I want to be able to visit it, our country has wonderful places. A lot of people talk to me about places I don’t know, like the Falls, a typical place for us. I would like to go there. She went with the kids.”
Antonela, his great love
About Antonela Roccuzzo, his wife and mother of his three children, he said that he knew her from a very young age because he played in the youth teams of Newell’s Od Boys with her cousin Lucas.
“We met when we were very young, I used to go to her house. I always liked her. At that time we were called ‘amigovios’ [a combination of friends and partners]. Then when I was 13, I left for Spain and we lost touch a bit. Communication was much more difficult than it is now. It was through letters, e-mails or the odd phone call, as international (calls) were expensive,” said Messi amid shy smiles.