Lionel Messi has given another interview after winning the World Cup with Argentina, as he spoke about the World Cup, Gonzalo Montiel’s penalty and the pictures with the trophy.
Messi gave a lengthy interview with Diario Ole in Argentina. The interview was released on Thursday and here is the first part of it. Here is what he had to say about what he felt when he saw the World Cup and kissed it:
“What I felt at that moment cannot be explained in words. Seeing the Cup there, I hadn’t thought about my reaction there. It was seeing her and I went because it was so close, it came from inside me to approach her, touch her, kiss her.
“And it was an enormous emotion to be able to say that’s it, we can grab it, touch it. It came out without thought because I hadn’t seen her before going up. It was in passing that I saw her.”
How many times he had dreamed of that moment:
“Uff… Many times. After so much time with the national team, the previous World Cups, to having been so close too in 2014, to having seen her pass by so close there and not to have been able to do what I did this time. Behind that was a lot of sacrifice, a lot of losses, a lot of difficult moments which I had to go through. It was a beautiful situation.”
The “that’s it” that he did on the pitch was also a “that’s it” for the family:
“Just as much for me, they lived it just as much as I did or even more. Because I have family that live in Argentina, that live the day to day of Argentina, that talk about the sport, in the media. And they had consumed it all. Because whether I want to see it or not, I have heard it or someone tells you and I know that they suffer the same as I do or more.
“That when we are together, they try to show me that it’s not like that but deep down I know that they had a bad time and it was a relief for them and for me.”
They show him the video of Montiel scoring the penalty:
“Up until today, it’s a very exciting moment, even when I see it like this, more than that moment, for living it calmer and having some time pass by and seeing it today excites me even more.
“I see a lot videos that appear on social media and things that they show and the truth is that it’s incredible… It’s not the same thing but seeing similar videos, Cacehete’s (Montiel) last penalty, how they commentated it in different countries or groups of people together to watch the matches and how they lived it after being world champions. Very nice moments.
“I saw that it was said that I was talking to Diego or my grandmother. I asked God as always and I was talking to Cachete (Montiel) to score it, to end it and not to have continue. Because we had one more chance with Dibu or for us to score another one. I told him “please Cachete, put it in, let it end here.” I was talking to him (Montiel), to God and praying.”
How it was bacckstage with the picture of the World Cup in bed:
“We arrived in the morning, we slept very little. I Think that with the time change, I slept one or two hours at most. It was 6:00 in the morning and I had already turned on the television and my room faces Rodrigo and Ota’s (Rodrigo De Paul and Nicolas Otamendi), who are on the other side.
“And from wall to wall, it could be heard, so they must have heard me go to the bathroom, get up and turn on the television. I don’t know why I ended up with the Cup that night, it was in my room, they had left it for me. I had her next to me, Rodrigo (De Paul) appeared. I got like this and he told me: “Come here and I’ll take your picture”.
De Paul’s a good photographer…
“He’s used to picture… He is a very important person for the group, from a football point of view and in difficult times, too. People always see him screwing around, laughing, but when it’s time to work and be serious, he is the first to always give his maximum.”
Regarding his Instagram post, why he used a song by Sole:
“Sole’s song is very meaningful for us. Before the Copa America, we always had a couple of songs that we listened to and they make us feel good. These are special moments and for us and that of Sole, it was with us during the Copa America and this World Cup. It is a very significant topic for me and for the group.”
When do they listen to it:
“Everywhere. During training camp, the locker room, the moment we are about to go out onto the pitch. As a group, we always have three or four songs.”
If he saw how the people celebrated it, the teams celebrated the titles:
“I saw it, I saw it. I saw Pillud (Ivan) also with Racing. I believe it was a month where people lived it to the maximum, they enjoyed it a lot. Not only the final, having been World Cup, if not every match, the month in general, where in every match the people went out to enjoy it and celebrate.
A very special moment for Argentine’s, being World champions. Different generations, older people, kids, babies, everyone talking about the celebrations. And seeing the faces of how they lived it was incredible.
Him crouching with the trophies, walking to the players, how that came about:
“I don’t know. It came out like that after the Copa America, doing something different. I saw that all of them were waiting for me with the Cup. ANd well, the first was the Copa America, it was repeated in the Finalissima and it could not be anything less at the World Cup. It’s something different.”
If he had a bit of fear before the match vs. Mexico:
“Yes, obviously, yes. Although we were confident in what we were and what we could do, in the defeat against Saudi Arabia. Obviously, the crap from that game that it didn’t turn out as we expected, it wasn’t easy after we started with a loss. Because if you don’t win, you already started to depend on others. And if we lost, no way, we were out without a chance.
“But the strength of the team was shown there, what we were as a group and it was a unique test that after the match with Mexico made everything stronger. But obviously there was the fear that it wouldn’t turn out as we intended, it was even one of the worst matches in terms of play and it’s normal because of what we were playing for.”
What he remembers from half time against Mexico:
“I remember talking to the guys and telling that that we knew it was going to be a difficult situation, but we had to try to get out of it. To forget what we were playing and to play like we have always played. We came from 35 matches without losing and we knew that doing things like we knew what we could do, we were superior to Mexico. Although they’re a great national team and it was a difficult test for the way they play too. But we knew that man for man, we were superior.
“And that if we played with peace of mind and patience, which is what we always did, we would win. But the difficult thing was to be patient and the calmness of not rushing. To move the ball from one side to another, to wait for space.
“At times, anxiety eats us and we have to rush the play, we would lose stupid balls. But it’s normal in these matches.
“After that, very confident and very calm. With Poland, we played a great game, including when I missed my penalty. We kept playing the same way and even better. We started to have more control of the match, long possession, it’s what we were doing before losing to Saudi Arabia.
“Losing to Saudi Arabia was a coincidence, we had a lot of chances in the first half and if we had gone 2-0, the game would have been totally different. They got to the goal twice and they scored two goals and it was hard for us. It was a return to our essence.”
