'What Argentina needs to improve are those around Messi, not Messi'- Real Madrid icon defends Lionel Messi
What's the story?
Former Real Madrid icon and Argentine legend, Jorge Valdano, came in the defense of Messi, claiming that Argentina team should look to improve instead of solely asking their talisman Lionel Messi to do things on his own.
In case you didn't know...
Jorge Valdano remains one of the legends in Real Madrid's rich history. The Argentine World Cup winner featured for Los Blancos and helped them win the UEFA Cup in 1985 and 1986, scoring in both these finals.
Valdano was also a teammate of Diego Maradona and a part of Argentine squad which went on to win 1986 World Cup and Valdano netted one goal against West Germany in the final. After his retirement from football, Valdano served as Real Madrid's sporting director for a long time till he stepped down in 2005.
Meanwhile, Lionel Messi returned to national duty for the first time since Argentina crashed out against France in the World Cup but failed to help his team as Argentina succumbed to a 3-1 defeat against Venezuela.
The 31-year-old Argentine is enjoying another spectacular season in club football but failed to replicate his performances with his national team. The performance brought a bit of criticism from legends and fans alike and rightly so.
The heart of the matter
While Diego Maradona criticized the current Argentina team heavily by claiming that the player does not deserve to don the Argentine jersey, Valdano backed Messi.
Speaking on Onda Cero's The Transistor program, Valdano said, as quoted by AS:
"What Argentina needs to improve are those around Messi, not Messi.
They still expect Messi to do everything that the whole team should be doing on their own. Piling responsibility on the best player to solve everything of the time does not seem the best way of doing things to me."
What's next?
Argentina will face Morocco before the players resume their respective roles for their clubs.
Messi however, will not feature in the upcoming friendly as he complained about an injury and returned back to Barcelona. The clash against Morocco will be the last friendly match before the Copa America.