Maradona left the albiceleste that summer. The eternal number 10 would have tried to make the final victory his, but he allowed the defeat to have other authors.
With Maradona, Leo had his worst ever goalscoring return: three goals in sixteen games. He had got almost nothing out of Messi, and exposed his inadequacies as a coach on the greatest stage of all. But this latest failure of the national team was interpreted as a general one: ‘Hang on, wasn’t Messi supposed to be a genius?’
The analysis was insulting and opportunistic. It was written and said that Leo should have lifted an average team to the category of world champions, but he was not capable of doing it, of repeating what Maradona had done.
Many in Argentina actually asked themselves if Maradona had wanted Messi to have a good World Cup. What a load of codswallop. Saying that ignores what these sportsmen are made of. But it is true that, having been able to study the way Leo was handled by Guardiola, and even Coco Basile or Pancho Ferraro, and how he worked with them, el Pelusa had still preferred Leo to triumph à la Maradona, eventually making him play as an all-round midfielder, something Messi was not, and forgetting that conversation they’d had in Barcelona where the team for the World Cup was designed. A historic opportunity wasted.
‘Argentina was a little team from a city park,’ Goal.com wrote. ‘The stupidities of Maradona were more powerful than the team. The stubbornness of Maradona not to recognise his mistakes took Argentina to the debacle.’ El Clarín pursued the same idea: ‘Maradona never found the team. All the responsibility fell on Messi and he is not Maradona. The coach was inept. He didn’t put Messi on the box in South Africa, where he can hurt. The players discovered Father Christmas doesn’t exist – Maradona is not what they thought he was.’
Analysing the World Cup for El País, Leo bade farewell to the tournament in Germany: ‘[That was] something ugly that happened because of the way things turned out, the aim was to go further and we had the team to do it. We arrived at the World Cup in a bad state after qualifying by the skin of our teeth. In the World Cup I think that we had done things well until the Germany match. That was another kettle of fish. They were deserved winners given the way the game panned out; they scored very early and dominated the whole match: the truth is that it was a disappointment not to get further.’
The two World Cups and even the 2007 Copa América saw an inconsistent Leo. It would have been worse without him but clearly they had not managed to build a team that could get the most out of the most talented footballer of his generation. Messi instigated a footballing debate even before it became known that Maradona was not continuing as coach. ‘We have to start again from zero,’ he said. That might have been a prudent analysis of the situation but what really happened was that the World Cup in South Africa saw an increase in the split between the Argentine fans and Messi. And nobody was going to shut up about it: the flow of accusations continued, universal, unstinting. Leo did not stand up to be counted after the Germany defeat. If he had been earning euros, he would have played better. He did not celebrate goals with enough passion. He was arrogant. Cold-hearted. Protected by Grondona. Even autistic. All these things were said and written.
And hearing all that was killing Leo. He still did not understand the reasons. Fellow professionals defended him, Maradona included. ‘I think that the press had a lot to do with putting ideas in people’s heads, Leo this, Leo that, and remember he is twenty-four, twenty-five years old! I won the World Cup at twenty-six! He is at the right age to be a fully rounded player and show the Argentine public that they are completely wrong.’
But, tired of being misunderstood, Leo was close to giving up. He decided that he was either going to be accepted as he was, or he was not going to be accepted at all – whatever the consequences. ‘Society doesn’t understand him because he doesn’t sing the national anthem,’ says Gerardo Salorio. ‘Because he is a guy who shows little emotion. Here we like bread and circuses, that is how we are, that is how we like it. Serious people do not triumph in our country, you have to be a bit of a puppet. That is why Bielsa’s seriousness fitted so well in Bilbao. Such a serious Argentinian cannot exist in our homeland, as is the case with José Pekerman himself, Pancho Ferraro, Hugo Tocalli …’
‘I would ask Leo, because it would also be beautiful to help him think, what does the national anthem have to do with a football match?’ Signorini suggests. ‘What does the national anthem have to do with anything? Because when you think about any national anthem, it brings to mind epic battles. You always think about the nastiness of war.’
You could write calmly against Messi: it became fashionable. The problem was that his personal life continued to be mixed up with his footballing life. The prize-winning writer Martín Caparrós launched into a diatribe against Leo in October 2011, which was widely read. ‘He tries to be Argentine, three billion reaffirm that he is; only his supposed compatriots doubt him. He still hasn’t aroused affection or a sense of closeness within us: Messi is a guy who does incredible pirouettes with a ball on the other side of the world and who, luckily, belongs to us for World Cups. Of course it makes us proud – pride comes easily to us Argentines, as easily as a plaintive cry – but it is slightly artificial: as if we feared that the trick would be discovered at any moment.’
Without the media support that Riquelme (who helped certain journalists climb the ladder on television) or Maradona received, Leo was more and more a stranger in his own land. It is a very typical type of Argentine jealousy. Messi left and triumphed; during the crisis, he packed his bags, electing not to stay and put up with it like the rest of them. ‘It may not be just an Argentine thing, but it is prominent here,’ Sergio Levinsky explains. ‘There has been a long-standing tradition of not selecting players for the World Cup if they plied their trade in Europe. Argentina went to Sweden in 1958 and failed miserably; neither Alfredo Di Stéfano nor Enrique Omar Sívori were there. They were the best players in the world, but, as they played in Europe, they were deemed superfluous to requirements.’ Even Maradona, between 1982 and 1985, had a spell in which he was not called up, because he was playing in Europe.
Leo describes his house in Castelldefels as a ‘normal’ home. He has many items of sentimental value in Rosario, in his house, his mother’s or his brother’s. It is where his roots are. However, there is hardly any trace of him in his city. It was not until 2013 that the local tourist board published a leaflet with a ‘Messi route’ on it for the first time. Plans for a sports museum are being drawn up. Messi insists that he will retire at Newell’s: ‘I don’t know when it will be, but it is what I want. I want to play in Argentine football because of everything it means.’ There is sincerity in his words, but they often sound like an appeal for acceptance.
But, as Eduardo Sacheri said in El Gráfico, ‘It isn’t Messi’s fault that we Argentines are incapable of ending our mourning for Diego.’
‘I have always said it: Argentina has treated him unfairly. We are very bad at that, aren’t we? When things don’t go well for us … We players always used to say it: Leo does not have to save us, we have to help him so that he can really do everything he is used to doing. If a team doesn’t support him, it is very difficult. And I felt that the team was not managing to give him everything he needed to really prosper. He has always played really well for Argentina; at some points he has not shone as he has at Barcelona, but nor has he played badly. It is very difficult to see Leo play badly, because the decisions that he takes are usually the right ones.’
(Javier Mascherano)
‘Di Stéfano, Garrincha, Pelé, Cruyff or Maradona, Platini or Zidane, did they need so much pampering to play? Didn’t they play as well for their teams as for the national team, with different journeys and coaches and team-mates thrown into the mix? Did they ever need the coaches to build the team around them so they could shine? Or be captains? Or wear the number ten? Or have their families jump to defend them? Has anyone, in any national team, ever been given five years and fifty mat
ches? Is he, in some way, responsible for what happens to the national team, or, as his advocates say, is the world to blame, the surroundings? Silence.’
(Fernando Araújo Vélez, journalist with El Magazín)
Argentina have not won a major tournament since 1993. Looking back at Leo’s first 50 caps, there were important goals, beautiful ones, too, but still no afternoon of glory in the latter stages of a tournament. Sergio Batista replaced Maradona and wanted to replicate history, which is why he decided to use the system that Guardiola had mastered at Barcelona, giving Leo freedom. But it was neither Xavi nor Iniesta who helped him, nor was the team built from the back with the efficiency of Puyol and Piqué. The new coach was building a house from the roof down, imposing the formation, before creating the conditions to make the most of the talent at his disposal, but the nature of international duty offers little alternative or time.
He also repeated what Pep had done with Ronaldinho and Deco: Batista confronted Tévez, who subsequently disappeared from the scene. There are numerous theories: el Apache was one of the few who, after the Germany failure, backed Maradona, long-term enemy of Batista. In a friendly against Brazil in Doha, Tévez did not travel because of a supposed muscular injury, but he played for Manchester City days later. ‘That shows a lack of loyalty’ was the message coming from Batista’s camp.
Another more football-related example can be added: Batista announced that he was going to build a team around Messi. The style had to be chosen. Tévez offered fight and battling spirit, but that came at a price; he was more comfortable playing the lone striker.
The coach travelled to England to see some of his players and did not even call Tévez. His future seemed to be clear, but there was a problem. It was 2011, the year of the Copa América, which was to be held in Argentina. Tévez, from a humble background and baptised by Maradona as the ‘people’s player’, had at the time greater marketing power than Leo: his face was in TV commercials and on posters all over the country. There was enormous pressure from the companies sponsoring the national team to keep el Apache in the squad. Some days before the beginning of the tournament, Batista phoned Tévez. He was going to be called up.
As always happens, cliques started forming around the leaders. Leo shared tables, time, games and chats with Pablo Zabaleta, Mascherano and both Gabriel and Diego Milito. They had already been known since South Africa as the Ferran Adriàs, in honour of the famous Catalan chef. The name would be abandoned as it gradually became the most relevant group.
For that tournament, Checho Batista featured in a 4-3-3 system with Esteban Cambiasso, Javier Mascherano and Ever Banega as the three central midfielders, although two of them had to play more of a box-to-box role and wider than usual. Ezequiel Lavezzi joined the Tévez/Messi duo up front.
The problems were obvious from the first minute against Bolivia, in the opening game. Messi and Tévez were making the same runs, they were using similar spaces, they did not fit. And as the game continued all square, both dropped deep to help the build-up. The same thing happened in the following match, against Colombia. Two draws to start with. And the public made itself heard: they preferred Tévez. The chants and insults were aimed at Leo, who would leave the pitch with a vacant stare. And also the boos, the first he had heard since his albiceleste debut five years earlier.
The press did not let it go.
‘You only fall in love with Argentina at the beginning, when you land at the airport or when the national anthem is sung.’
(El Clarín)
‘The 11 nutcases. This is not Messi.’
(Olé)
Jorge Messi spoke on Radio 10. Leo ‘is having a very hard time. It is the very first time that he has been booed, it is something he didn’t expect. It is really tough … People are free to think whatever they want. What is irritating is what the press says, they create situations that are unfair. They are adding fuel to the fire. The Argentine press can criticise, because it is their job. Argentina are playing badly, but they should look after their team a bit more.’
The media was creating opinion, but Jorge could see something more than an innocent footballing debate: ‘I don’t understand the envy. Beyond that there are people who are opinion formers and speak about someone’s personal life. That hurts and annoys. Lionel is in a bad state because when he arrived in the country a few days ago, people were rallying around him.’ The rift that the federation created between the squad and the fans, who were denied the opportunity to get photographs signed or to take pictures of their heroes in the hotels, did little to create a sympathetic atmosphere.
Leo had to respond in his own way, on the pitch. Victory against Costa Rica was essential. It was in Córdoba, in the Mario Kempes Stadium, and for once the fans did not give anyone stick: they got behind the team and Leo felt their appreciation. In return, Leo played a blinder. It went well for him alongside Kun Agüero, Di María and Higuaín, who waited for his or Fernando Gago’s passes. The latter felt at ease controlling the tempo of the game, waiting for the moment when Leo could make the difference. Tévez stayed on the bench. Messi provided an assist for one of Agüero’s two goals and also made the pass for Di María’s. The final score was 3–0.
‘You had to pamper and look after Leo. That is how the Mario Kempes crowd understood it as they chanted his name. Before the game. During. And immediately after every involvement (brilliant or not) by the world’s best player.’
(Olé)
‘Messi was colossal … He bewildered the Costa Ricans who could never stop him, but he also drove the Córdoba, Corrientes and Santa Fe people crazy.’
(El Clarín)
At the end of the game the Costa Rica players queued up to get Leo to sign their shirts.
In the quarter-finals, the Río de la Plata clásico. Argentina fielded the same team but Uruguay, who played with a man less for 48 minutes, won on penalties. Tévez, who missed one in the shoot-out, would not wear the albiceleste shirt again. Messi’s sojourn with the national team was broken once again. The criticism was aimed at Batista.
‘National Failure.’
(Olé)
‘It cannot go on like this. Without heart, without defence, without a tactical idea, without support for Messi’s football.’
(Olé)
‘Lionel Messi, the best in the world, the ace of spades, the Sword of Damocles.’
(Daniel Arcucci)
But as soon as the lights went out on the tournament after Uruguay’s deserved triumph, the old personal accusations against Messi started flying again. Fans were annoyed that he seemed to prefer to defend himself with silence. That lack of response to public criticism was, however, adding fuel to the fire: and that criticism was even harsher than before. It was unbearable.
Leo Messi thought of quitting the national team for good.
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The man on the street was questioning you, with the whole ‘he isn’t Argentine’ thing and that rubbish. There are Argentine players that you’ve seen go to Italy and speak Italian within a few months. How did you find it out there in Barcelona?
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I came from Rosario and every time I spoke, they would say to me, ‘What? What are you saying?’ And I would make an effort to speak like them to avoid having to repeat myself until I got to the first division where there were various languages spoken and everyone spoke as they wished.
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But you did the best you could …
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Yes. I still go out for some food and order chicken (pronounced ‘posho’ in Argentinian Spanish) and they say to me ‘poio’ (in a Spanish accent).
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A couple of times I’ve seen that the national anthem was playing and you weren’t singing it so I tweeted: ‘I like the way Messi doesn’t sing the national anthem’ and the question is: is it to do with ‘get off my back, I’m not going to sing it’?
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Yes, because I thought what they said was ridiculous. I was upset and I reacted that way aft
er I heard all that. They would say all sorts of nonsense.
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They did not like you not singing it.
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Of course not. They would criticise me for everything and for that too – since 2006 when they started with a chant against me. They don’t sing it any more, but, apart from that, there were moments of rage because of the crap people used to say.
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But jeers are also a driving force.
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Yes, I’ve been on the receiving end of so many bad, ugly ones with the national team, I’ve heard it all. People I hear today who speak so well about me, oh well …
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What is the worst you’ve heard?
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I already knew that I wasn’t performing well with the national team but I wasn’t the only one. The team wasn’t performing. People, or should I say the press, expected me to join the national team and win matches singlehandedly. That doesn’t happen either in the national team or in any team. I knew I was not on top form but I didn’t want that. I’m the first person who wants to play well for my club and country.
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Do you believe things were said in bad faith?
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Yes. Things were said that had nothing to do with playing well or badly. That was what hurt me, because I am used to being criticised for what I do on the pitch. I play football and am used to people having nice and not so nice things to say.
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What should we do, should we sing the national anthem? I’ll tell you another thing. I even heard: he doesn’t know it!
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As I’ve told you, so many things were said …
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Are you going to sing it now? Or should we leave it for a later date?
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Let’s leave it for a later date, for a special occasion.
Messi Page 50