Leandro Paredes spoke about Lionel Messi’s injury at the Copa America final.
Paredes was on the bench when Lionel Messi was substituted out in the 2024 Copa America final with an injury. He would go on to be substituted into the match and play an instrumental role in the winning goal scored by Lautaro Martínez to win Argentina the Copa America.
Lionel Messi was shown crying on the bench with a swollen ankle while Paredes was sitting next to him. Speaking in an interview with Telefe, here is what Paredes had to say about Messi’s injury:
“I didn’t look at Messi because I couldn’t hear him cry. I was surprised that he cried like that because it is very difficult for him to show what he is going through. Seeing him like that made me feel bad.”
Molina clearly our no1 right back. Offensive contributions are always good while occasional defensive mishaps. In current team. Montiel will be our backup for a tournament. He also punches above his weight & the perfect knockout game late sub for penalties. I am also not a fan of trying foyth as he is more of a CB & we have way better options.
But for remaining matches this year, I would love to see scaloni trying options like giay, maffeo. Giay in particular looks a long term prospect.
Instead of Montiel why not Tenaglia of Deportivo Alaves? Or you just think that we will need Montiel for decisive penalty kicks? I think we now have a lot of very good PK takers unlike the team’s situation was back in 2015&16. IMO, Montiel is replaceable, but that won’t let me forget his long lonely walk for taking the last PK of 2022 WC which at the end gave many French and Varzil fans a heart attack.
Molina’s offensive game has dropped to a new low! He has always been an average defender but his attacking side covered his defensive weakness but not any more.
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Its harsh on Molina the way most of the fans criticise him. Just rewind the past and the patterns. He was always like this. I mean he is a type of player who is error prone when he plays the first one or two games. But after that, he always gel with the team.
We all criticised him when columbia and diaz made molina a kid in 2021 semifinals. And montiel performed greatly in the finals.
He performed badly in the friendlies before the world cup. His first game against Saudi was also bad. Montiel started vs mexico.
But then we all see another type of molina from the match against poland. And keeps on improving till the last match. Scaloni trusted fully on the ability of him. He is not zanetti or cafu but he is really a very good right back. The most efficient we have got. Trust him. He will improve once he gets the rhythm with the team. Only thing is we need a back up for him. A player with the heart of montiel is enough for me. The talent would naturally rise then.
The other thing is foyth is not at all a reliable defender. He won’t give that mind set of wearing the Argentine jersey. Playing with heart is not his stuff. May be he has more talent than montiel. But montiel is a lion and we can feel the difference in his game when wearing the Argentine jersey and the club. We need that type of players.
Defensively, Foyth is on a different level to Molina! It’s just that he is a natural CB which is why he is more of a defensive RB.