Messi: “This Will Be my Last Game in a World Cup”

Leo Messi announces that next Sunday’s final will be his last match in a World Cup: “Finishing this way is the best”.

Messi announced that it is his last World Cup after getting into the final: “To finish my journey in the World Cup playing my last game in a final… There’s many years for the next World Cup and I don’t think i’ll make it. And ending this way is the best”.Messi has been named as the best player of the match in the semifinal that Argentina won 3-0 to Croatia, Messi said he feels “good, strong” and is “enjoying a lot” of the entire tour with his team.

“I’m really enjoying all this. I feel good. I feel strong to face each game. We’ve been making a huge sacrifice. We were getting tired, but the group found the strength to push on, it was a very serious game. We knew it was going to be a tough match, so we prepared ourselves in advance,” he said at a press conference at the Lusail stadium.

“We prepared the game very well. We knew that they were going to have the ball, in the middle they have good players, but we were going to have our chance, because they mess up fast. We prepared the game very well. I feel happy. Throughout this World Cup I am really enjoying every minute and, luckily, I was able to help the group to get things back on track,” added the PSG player.

And he remarked the value of the whole team: “Beyond the group strength it has, is very smart. Knowing how to read the moments of the game. Scaloni had already said so. It is a very intelligent group, which knows how to suffer when it has to suffer, who know how to have the ball, when you have to pass, withdraw, the team know how to read the games”.

“And the team has a very good coaching staff that doesn’t leave anything to chance, that makes you know every detail of each game and that is a great help for us. At no time do we feel lost in the field, we know what we have to do in all matches. We knew the match was going to go this way. Croatia has a lot of possession, but we also knew that it could be a fortress of ours when we recovered. They are very messy and leave many spaces,” Messi said.

Argentina have reached the final after losing 1-2 against Saudi Arabia on the first day: “The first game was a very hard blow for us, because we came from 36 games without losing and start the World Cup like this, with a rival who previously thought we could win it, it was a very hard test for us and for this group. But the group showed again how strong it is, making the most of it”.

“It is very difficult what we achieved, with the great wear and tear of playing each game as a final. We played five finals, we were able to win all five and hopefully it will continue to be this way. We were confident that we would achieve it, because we know what we are as a group and as a team. This constant support between all the players helped us grow even more in the championship and us as a group,” he said.