Former Argentina national team coach Alfio Basile commented on the current team, Lionel Messi and coach Lionel Scaloni.
Alfio Basile was the last Argentina coach to win a trophy with the national team prior to Lionel Scaloni. Basile won the 1991 and 1993 Copa America’s, in addition to the 1992 Confederations Cup and in 1993 lifted the Artemio Franchi Trophy.
Basile is also the only coach to have ever managed both Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi. Speaking in an interview with Sports Mitre, Basile was asked about Lionel Messi with Argentina and with PSG. Here is what he had to say:
“The problem that Messi has is that at PSG, he is playing on the right and with Argentina he plays everywhere, he makes everyone play and infects them. PSG have a very weak defense and are very messy.
“Of course PSG can lose the Champions League because, for example, they had Messi and Mbappe and the rest of the team are normal players.
“Messi was always a phenomenon, not just now.”
In regards to the Argentina national team:
“We are getting better every time but we have to calm down and not make this any bigger. We have to wait to play the World Cup and with the big European teams.”
Regarding Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni:
“Scaloni doesn’t surprise me, what happened was that I don’t know him because he had never coached. We could not speak good or bad about him. I think he’s doing very well so far and getting better and better. That’s the most important thing.”
