Javier Zanetti comments on Lautaro Martínez, Lionel Messi

By
Roy Nemer
-
43

Javier Zanetti commented on Lautaro Martínez and the World Cup he had, while also speaking about Lionel Messi.

Zanetti was constantly in attendance, watching and supporting the Argentina national team at the World Cup. Speaking in an interview with TyC Sports, Zanetti commented on Lautaro’s fitness and World Cup. Here is what he had to say:

“Lautaro played through some physical problems but he had some opportunities to score, which were complicated.

“If one of his goals against Saudi Arabia had been given, he would have had a different World Cup. But that is football.

“The important thing was to have 26 players who could give the team a hand when called upon. Lautaro took the responsibility of taking the decisive penalty against the Netherlands, which he scored.

“He’s very young. He has a lot ahead of him, he’s become a world champion in his first World Cup and he deserves to enjoy that.”

In regards to Lionel Messi:

“I told Leo’s children (Messi) that they don’t realize the father they have, not only as a player but also as a person.”

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

43 Comments

  1. Lautaro confidence took a huge dive when he was dropped for doing nothing wrong against Saudi. His goal was wrongfully disallowed but Julian’s off the ball movement helped Messi get the goal against Mexico and then after that Lautaro turned into HIGUAIN ON STEROIDS!! Even the third Messi goal in the final he should have passed to Messi instead of taking it himself and the last miss was the worst one!! Worst than all of his misses against Australia he had three criminal misses in the final!! First he took extra touch which was blocked by the french defender, another he shot it wide which ended up behind the goal and the worst miss was when He send the last play of the match, an open header in the opposite direction which could have won us the world cup. Scaloni didn’t sub out Alvarez until the 90th min as Julian had nothing left in the tank. Scaloni and Co had lost their confidence on Lautaro’s finishing!! In retrospect, Dybala would have been a much better than Lautaro in the finals!!

  2. Now that Scaloni won the World Cup we have to ask this question, is he a Menottista or Bilardista? I think he is a combination of both, winning pragmatically but sometimes can’t help but winning playing beautiful football because of the quality of the players at his disposal.

    #LaScaloneta

    I want to get 2 t-shirts, one that says “Que miras bobo?” and another one “LaScaloneta”

    • In argentina it is considered slightly more bilardista. The difference is not so much about attack minded vs defense minded. its more about the mindset- to suffer, to have the intensity, the ‘knife between the teeth’ as they say, to be prepared for all eventuality and grind through it. the ‘mira que te como hermano’ is like the equivalent of ‘pisarlo pisarlo’ – to find the weakness and step on it. Yes there can be beautiful moments within it – de paul to di maria or maradona to caniggia. But the foundation is built on grit, unity, preparation, suffering together as team. The beautiful phases are the icing of the cake.

    • Scaloni is nether Bilardista or Menotista. He is what Sampaoli should have been for us. Sampaoli was thought to be a perfect coach for us because he won Copa with Chile, Chile looked like a WC contender with him, and he was good with Sevilla.

      Thing just did not work out with Sampaoli because of his strange methods of coaching where he always made drastic changes of players/formations/have strange favoritism.

      Scaloni, whp happened to be Sampaoli assistant is very similar to him when it comes to those. None of our WC coaches in the past were like that. I mean only Sampaoli and Scaloni can change to 4-3-3 to 4-4-2 to 3-5-2 in 3 WC games.

      The difference between the 2 is Scaloni already earns the players trust so if he changes the formations or players, players will adapt to that quickly. Sampaoli never earned the trust yet so when he changed the formation/players, it ruined everything.

      For example Di Maria did not play at all in the semis against Croatia in WC 2022, did you hear him complaining or any other players complaining? No right. But the same Di Maria also did not play against the same Croatia in 2018, but he and the whole “old guards” complained which resulted in Sampaoli losing the dressing room.

      So for me Scaloni is the perfect version of Sampaoli. He is what many people wish Sampaoli to be when he was first appointed by AFA.

      • Do we have any reliable resource on what actually happened in the dressing room before that 2018 Croatia match ? It looked horrible from the body language of those players…Sampaoli brought so much peace among the fans during that qualifier , felt like this was our time , specially when we were struggling with Bauza; but it all ended as a nightmare .

  3. For all the folks criticizing emi Martinez, here is one news for you… Do you guys know how much guts it takes someone to talk the talk and walk the walk…. With Martinez you are looking at a master goalkeeper who knows how to get into the head of an opponent, we would have been dying for this kind of goal keeper the last 30 odd years and now that we have him we should really appreciate him, who cares what the french and the respective bandwagon European media think about him, we have a world cup in part because of him and longer he stays in top form the longer it is good for team Argentina

    • I love it. The only issue is, to leave it on the field. I don’t want “what comes around, goes around”.

      UFC fighters talk crap before the fight and during. After the other guy is knocked down. Shake hands and hug. The ones that continue to speak always end up embarrassed at the fight around.

      Emi needs to know that the world cup is in 4 years again. We may face France again.

      Did it ever occur to anyone that maybe Argentina went this long to win another world cup after the antics of Maradona and the handball and all of the crap talk? Sometimes when a majority want to see you fail, without God’s intervention, you can fail.

      Look how lucky we were to win this world cup. Did it ever occur to anyone, perhaps the overwhelming support and positive energy caused this???

  5. So all the “fans” who kept critiquing Scaloni for not picking Garnacho just suddenly disappeared huh? This tournament should serve as proof that coaches are coaches for a reason. Even after losing to Saudi Arabia, it was apparent scoring was not the issue hence why I was confused for the outrage over Garnacho’s omission. Without hard working players such as McAllister, Alvarez and DePaul who were willing to press & track back (I.e Nico) winning this tournament would not have been possible.

    Anyhow, congrats to all the players and the loyal fans of Argentina. After 36 years of agony and coming up short, this team deserved the glory.

    • I always find it funny how people watching from home think they know more about the chemistry of a player and his team than a coach who’s Sole job is to analyze his players for many many many hours every week. Hahaha.

      When Scaloni signed on I was so happy. Because he was essentially a nobody. And that’s what we needed. We need the opposite of SAMPAOLI who was known everywhere. Those guys let their pride get in the way. We needed a tactician who had no agenda but work with what he had and fit a game plan to the players he had available. That’s what makes a great coach. Understanding your strengths and weaknesses and exploiting both. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

      Scaloni is everything we needed and I hope he continues to remain with the national team for many years and builds a system from the youth teams up to the 1st team.

    • I wouldn’t have minded seeing Garnacho called over Almada but I have commented on why Scaloni prioritized Almada and it did make sense. It was rather irrational to call Garnacho but knowing he would have gotten low minutes anyway, it was still worth having his blistering pace ready in case we needed it.

      2 things for Almada – had more experience than garnacho and Scaloni included him to highlight to European clubs. I think it was more marketing based than tactical

    • Its playstation mindset. Anyone who has experience playing at a high level knows tournaments are won from the backline forward. A front three of Messi, Ronaldo, Neymar in their primes would still fail to qualify without an organized, fit, hardworking team behind. Vs Saudi it was onbious our Copa lineup was not in good fitness.

      Scalonis roster flexibility is one of his best attributes. Integrating macallister, enzo and Alvarez in an improvised way was why we won it. Had Sampaoli done the same with Locelso, etc we may have had a shot 2018.

  6. Crespo gave a chance to Enzo when he played for Defensa y Justicia when he was the helm and Enzo was playing there on loan. That was the beginning of his meteoric rise. He returned to River and the rest is history…

  7. Don’t say bullshit or pretend cool..lol what martinez do is110% correct, nothing wrong.Its happen in sports..i think you guys never played sports! So stop saying rabish. france do whatever nothing can ban Emi..stop bullshit

  8. Please can someone share with me the meaning of the song when Argentina players celebrating the word I’m interesting most is maracanaa which I think they mean when they beat Brazil at maracanaa in 2021 copa America

    • Here you go! vamooooooooo

      I was born In Argentina
      Land of diego and Lionel
      And the kids from the Malvinas
      That I will never forget

      I won’t try to explain it
      Because you will not understand
      The finals that we’ve lost
      How many years i cried.

      But that is all done now
      Because in the maracana
      The final against brazucas
      We returned to winning

      Gentlemen (muchachos)
      Now we can get excited again
      I want to win the third
      I want to be champions of the world.

      And diego
      From the sky he’s watching down
      With don diego and la tota (maradona parents)
      Encouraging him forward to be a champion again.

      A beautiful anthem!

      MUCHAAAAACHOOOSSSSS!!

  9. Ángel Di María has decided to continue playing in Argentina National Team. (gastonedul). Perfect supersub till Copa24. Messi will stay after this for sure. Armani, Pezzella, Papu will let go. Otamendi will stay as a leader, mentor, but only as a substitution too.

  10. I told everyone we don’t need only to play good but we need lady lucks blessing. Martinez in a luckier day could have saved the second goal. Lautaro being more lucky could have ended the game in the extra time twice. We completely dominated the French team for 70 minutes. Mbappe made their first attempt in 70. Minute if I remember right. Argentina totally deserved the win without any doubt.
    Everything above is in the past now and noone can take away what the guys have archived. The future is bright and I’m pretty sure we will still write history. Back to back win in copa and Worldcup here we come.

  11. Guess if someone had known the result of the final before the start of the game and told you that Mbappe will score a hattrick, what would’ve thought? Lol

  12. France launched a complain over Martinez’s behavior. I think he’ll be banned for a few months at least. Frankly I don’t like Martinez’s behavior after the game, let the win and the fans to do the talking.
    How long do you think he will get banned?

  13. Lautaro is our best striker right now. When he was healthy, I never doubted him. His body language as well as his facial expressions show that he is a very smart and brave person.

  14. Guys lets make a game, write your WC26 squad prediction in this format! Before the 2026 WC will be fun to look back.

    Possible starting 11: Emi Martinez- V.Barco Lisandro Romero Molina-Lo Celso Perrone Enzo-Garnacho Lautaro J. Alvarez.

    Emi Martinez
    Musso
    Rossi

    Lautaro Blanco
    V. Barco
    Lisandro
    Romero
    Medina
    Perez
    Molina
    Foyth

    Perrone
    Alan Varela
    Enzo Fernandez
    Macallister
    Lo Celso
    De Paul
    Palacios
    Alcaraz
    Almada

    Garnacho
    Zeballos
    Lautaro
    Julian Alvarez
    Nico Gonzalez
    Dybala

    Another 15 options who wont make the squad:

    Federico Gomes Gerth
    Valentin Gomez
    Balerdi
    Montiel
    Fausto Vera
    N. Dominguez
    Robertone
    Nico Paz
    Simon
    Buonanotte
    Prestianni
    Solari
    A. Correa
    Soule
    Simeone.

    • 4 years is too long to predict. Copa in 18 months maybe we can see few new players joining the squad. Its unknows messi dimaria otamendi will play till 2024 Copa. We might have 3-4 changes.
      Medina
      Dominguz
      Varela
      Garnacho etc

      • Luka as Luka Romero? Too small to be a midfielder imo. Till 2026 Julian will be one of the world best attackers, and Dybala 33 years old already (not everybody is Messi longevity-wise). 33 years old, not a workhouse Dybala and 39 years old Messi would be overkill. Now we won with grit and fighting spirit, Garnacho, Dybala, Luka and Messi would be the most softest ARG ever.

  15. I can’t begin to express my feelings about the young players that played in this WC, how they performed and who impressed the most when least expected! CRAZY
    Di Maria, Messi, Otamendi(minus mistakes) played for their lives, Di Maria in that FINAL was a menace, Messi the whole tournament was Everywhere………

    That game should/could have easily ended 4-0 but let that be a lesson for the future and injured players coming back and newer possible one(s)

  16. Lautaro had 5 opportunities in his 15 minutes.. couldn’t score any. Very bad..considering this is final of THE WC, there you won’t get much Chances. As he had ankle problem, he was not in form. This is clear during the tournament.
    Scaloni should have taken a bold decision to use Dybala instead of Lautaro in final. If we lost we all would have been calling Lautaro as next Higuain.

    We completely out played France, some of our mistakes made it difficult and match went to penalties.
    We won.. everyone happy..still, we have many areas to improve. We will stun the world again. Hopefully Scaloni stays even after 2026 WC.

    • Let’s look at the bright side which is the opportunities he created by his excellent off the ball play. Messi’s second goal came from a very powerful shot of him. He was unlucky but we should never doubt his love and passion for the shirt. El Toro will be an important part of the Albiceleste next 5-7 years or even for longer

      • I am the biggest fan of Lautaro. I never doubted him. But it was clear he was not in form. No one can deny his passion or love. I was continuously commenting few years back, he is better than Gabriel Jesus. Many disagreed. No one denying he will be important player for next years.

        But, I stick to my opinion, Dybala should have been used in final instead of him.

      • Tina Turner said it best “what’s love got to do with it”?

        No one is questioning his love or passion, like insider said, it was crystal clear TOROs form was terrible and Alvarez sub should have been Dybala who created, pressed, and defended well. His little time on the pitch was great, imagine what he could have done with more minutes. I bet Dybala would have scored and penalties avoided.

        Anyway Lucky emi saved us cause the Toro misses would have been devastating like Higuaín

Comments are closed.