“We are going to see if he continues playing or not” later with the Albiceleste or until when, Scaloni replied during the press conference on the eve of the World Cup semifinal against Croatia.
“We’re still going to enjoy it, it’s the best for us and for the world of football. If things go well for us, not only will things go well for him, but for the whole country. There’s still a long way to go and a very difficult game like tomorrow’s” he added.
Messi, who is 35 years old, stated on the eve of the Argentine debut in Qatar-2022 that he was “surely” before his last World Cup.
Scaloni also praised the leadership that the Paris Saint-Germain star is having during this tournament.
“Leo does not surprise me, he always was like this. He was always a winner,” he said.
The coach from Rosario also wanted to get serious to “settle” the criticism that the team has read in recent days for various attitudes in the quarterfinal match against the Netherlands, marked by tension between the two teams.
“The game the other day was played the way it had to be played, on the side of the Netherlands and Argentina. This is football. At times you have to defend, at others you have to attack. And you can put the game like the one of the another day, that there are discussions. There is a referee to control it”, indicated.
“You have to remove a taboo, we all know how to win and we all know how to lose. We lost against Arabia and we left quietly. We won the Copa América in Brazil and I think the image was more beautiful,” he said.
“This issue must be settled. We respect the Netherlands, as well as Croatia and all our rivals. It is an imprint that we have from the first day we took office. We must banish that that we do not know how to win or lose, it is totally removed of reality,” he said.
Regarding Croatia and its star Luka Modric, Scaloni predicted that the game will be “very complicated” due to the quality of the European team, world runner-up four years ago in Russia.
“We are expecting a very difficult game. It belongs to the teams that are really called teams. They play like that, like a great group, like a great team, they are going to make things difficult for us,” the coach estimated.
“Modric, it’s a pleasure to be inside and see him play. He is an example for many, not only because of his quality as a player and his behaviour. He makes you enjoy it like the day we played against (Polish Robert) Lewandowski. Whoever loves football He wants those players on the pitch,” he said.