New AFA housing complex in Ezeiza called Lionel Andrés Messi

By
Roy Nemer
-
18

The new AFA housing complex for the players in Ezeiza will be called Lionel Andrés Messi.

In a ceremony on Saturday, AFA president Chiqui Tapia paid tribute to the Best player in the world by making the announcement. Argentina national team players as well as his former team mates from the 2014 World Cup and local league players were in attendance.

AFA president Claudio Tapia started the ceremony and had this to say:

“Today is a very special day for our football and for our home. We thank those who are present, the leaders and our league captains.

“In 2017, we had to start to rebuild our football and within that was the building. It will become the new home of the national teams, with three floors of hotels, a training and high performance center, amenities, meeting rooms, recovery rooms and an auditorium.

“It’s not only the inauguration of this project but also the housing complex of Ezeiza which will bear the name of Lionel Andrés Messi.”

Lionel Messi also spoke at the ceremony. Surrounded by his current team mates in the Argentina national team, Messi had this to say:

“I want to thank (AFA president) Tapia for the recognition, which is very exciting. I have been coming to the camp for almost 20 years and from the first day I entered I felt a very special energy.

“Knowing that the housing complex is going to be called Lionel Andrés Messi is something very nice. It’s special because of what it means and because of the number of players who pass by.

“I went through hard times, it was getting here and feeling happy to be in this place. I am one of those who thinks that tributes have to be done while alive and this recognition is special and means a lot.”

Messi’s former team mates of the Argentina national team, most notably from the 2014 World Cup were also in attendance. Mariano Andújar, Javier Mascherano, Sergio Romero, Marcos Rojo and Maxi Rodríguez were all present for the announcement.

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18 Comments

  2. A lot of praise is heaped on Messi these days. Let’s not forget Di Maria. Messi played several finals from 2007 onwards, but he did not win until Di Maria started and scored in 3 consecutive finals. They should name something after ADM too.

    • Messi stature truly belittled the contribution and recognition of his super talented team mates. Dimaria, Aguero, Xavi, Iniesta, they never got the recognition they deserved because everything looked so pale infront of Messi Aura and star dom and non of it was his fault.

    • Just when we thought all hope was lost , Lionel messi jumpstarted our campaign with a shot from nowhere vs mexico

      Ran rings around the entire polish team for 90 mins , was unlucky to not get a goal or assist

      Vs Australia, quite possibly one of the greatest performances by a player in a world cup , if only lautaro had finished the chances that was served on a plate for him , again unlucky to not have more g/a in that game

      Vs netherlands, tore the entire defence apart like cotton candy with a single pass and was brilliant throughout the game

      Vs Croatia , took the defender of the tournament to the cleaners and again was outstanding throughout the game

      Vs France, not a single player in the world would’ve switched the play like he did for that second goal , it bamboozled the french defensive line and scored a brace in the final

      Now vs Italy in the finalissima put the ball on a silver platter for lautaro in the first goal and ran through the italian defence like it was nothing at times , would’ve had a goal if not for donnarumma’s brilliant saves

      Was the best player for Argentina throughout the Copa America campaign
      If not for Leo , di maria wouldn’t have played in the finals

      So yeah he deserves all the praise and more.

  5. Afa should have taken a very firm decision about retegui. Now mancini is thinking that it’s very easy to call up Argentine tallents for Italy. I hope scaloni and tapia are going to find out a way so that no more Argentine tallents get provoked by Italy. I am very concerned about Beltran, dela vega, and maestro puchh. They are tallented and a good coach like scaloni can take them to the next level. And off course Gianluca prestianni. I hope afa will act smart and keep our players beyond the reach of italy.

  7. Argentina is a big footballing country need to have plan ready for the future because Argentina need more World cup. Time to move on from J.Correa, pezzala, Armani, papu gomez and give deserve youngstars like garnacho immediate chance to the team. SPEND big World cup prize money on Infrastructure development. NOT only Afa , argentine clubs also need to give young players proper chances to the team, in this case I’m totally disappointed with boca juniors. Jianluco Prestiani is future of Argentina and he should be protected by AFA. HOWEVER I’m hopeful on AFA president Tapia because he did excellent job specially he’s calmness amazed me because I never saw he talks bad about anyone…If Argentina utilised talents wisely then for me 4th World cup not far away……Vamos Argentina…

  8. Italy are running out of talents and Argentina going to lose thier upcoming stars to them bcs italy will offer big club football e,g Milan clubs, juve roma, lazio fiorentina and napoli. Afa has to do something about it. I liked mancini bcz of his love Argentine players before of his club career but he took whole different level now which is big concern as Argentina fan pointview

    • Out of anyone Italy are targeting, the one who has future for Argentina is only Prestianni. He is destined to join Argentina after Messi era. Others not really NT material. Beltran maybe but not sure.

      Italy like to naturalize our players. Other than Camoranesi, they tried Ezequiel Schelotto too. Then almost successful getting Senesi last year. I am still convinced the tier one talents won’t choose any countries but Argentina. Tier 2 talents maybe coz they wanna play in Europe. By choosing Italy at least they could play for Cremonese, Como, Monza, Piacenza or all those small teams. It is better for them than staying in Argentina or MLS or Mexican league.

      • It is not us who can decide who is national team material or not. Does anyone bet on macallister before the worldcup.?? even some of the member here in this forum criticizes macallister for slow work rate.. It the job of a coach to turn a ordinary player into a superstar. This kind of player hijacking will affect us in the long term. the scary part is that majority of the targeted players are quite young and they will reach their prime in the 2026 worldcup. It’s high time to incorporate young players in the national team before it is too late..

  9. What the hell Italy doing. AFA should take necessary step to stop this. As a Argentina Fan We wouldnot like to see Our player playing for other nation. Prestianni may our next Di Maria .

  10. Severe and immediate action should be taken by the AFA. This is a serious and unprecedented threat. Nothing like this have ever happened before. Shameful act by Italy.

    • Italy have no talents compared to France Germany, Spain, Portugal, or England. They know that. They won’t survive in the next 5-10 years if they dont do anything. Who are Italian talents? Zaniolo? Overrated. Rovella or Ricci, Scalvini, L Lucca, maybe. That’s all

      Much much less than other Europeans or Argentines or Brazil talents.

  11. After taking Retegui and Zapelli, who both made their Italy debuts, Italian FA is hungry for more. They have shortlisted 17 players for now and for future. They have sent a delegation of high profile FA members and sports ministry. They are going to talk to Prestianni, De La Vega, Beltran, Sforza, Maestro Puch. The rest are mostly reserves players and kids with whose parents these delegation will meet. There are rumours they have already talked to and convinced Nico Capaldo. From the local league Pedro De La vega looks likely candidate to go right away. The delegation also includes a pimp, who started this whole idea, De Rossi.

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