Nicolás Tagliafico has spoken about his injury in the World Cup final.
Tagliafico played injured in the World Cup final against Spain and spoke about his injury. Speaking in an interview with ClankJPV, here is what he had to say:
“When I have to face these kinds of opponents, who are elite footballers—and I’ve mentioned this before—the wingers at any club today are very good, exciting, and sometimes even the best players on their team. I feel like I get a boost from it. I don’t know if it’s because I want to give my all.
“I’ve always been a team player, and I feel that responsibility: to mark this player, the most dangerous player on the opposing team. That’s what gives me that extra 120%.
“Playing through the pain helped me. It instilled in me the idea that, ‘Even with the pain, you have to keep going.’ I don’t know how to explain it, but I felt I had to do it for the team. It was my responsibility to do well.
“I was in a bad way, and at halftime we had to talk to the doctor. I wasn’t 100%, but unfortunately, a lot of things happened in that game: unexpected substitutions. It was a cramp, yes, but there were no more substitutions available, and I had to keep going, even if it was just for a little while. To help in some way, to contribute in some way.
“I feel that with adrenaline you can give a little more. On the field that day I repeated it to myself several times: ‘I can give a little more. I can give a little more.’ There came a point where both my quadriceps were cramped, but well, I hadn’t pulled a muscle so bad that I could say: ‘I can’t move.’ I moved as far as I could.
“At one point I said, ‘I’m going up there to see if I can at least make a difference.’ I felt like I was letting the team down a bit, but I needed to do something.”
Everything that could go wrong for us in the final against Spain went wrong again. Both of our center-backs had to come off because of injuries. Enzo and Paredes picked up unnecessary yellow cards, and then Enzo got a second yellow and was sent off. It felt like the referee was trying way too hard to prove to the world that FIFA hadn’t rigged the game for Argentina.
Then there were Scaloni’s decisions. The starting XI was questionable, and bringing on Simeone instead of players like Nico Paz or Lo Celso just felt dumb. Taking Julian off also gave Spain full freedom to attack, especially with Messi having an off game.
This game honestly felt much easier than the 2022 final. Spain didn’t look like they had much of an attacking threat at all, and their main attacking threat, Yamal, had a very poor World Cup considering the hype and expectations surrounding him. Scaloni managed to screw up multiple times throughout the World Cup, but somehow kept getting away with it. His luck finally ran out in the final.