East Rutherford (United States) - Arab Today
Proof of Messi's commitment to playing for Argentina, if it was needed, can be seen in his gruelling schedule over the past three years. He has played a major tournament during his off-season every summer since 2014.
Last year he played in the Champions League final for Barcelona and a week later was playing in the Copa America in Chile.
This year, he played in the final of Spain's Copa Del Rey on May 22 and five days later was turning out for Argentina in a meaningless friendly against Honduras in the Argentinian town of San Juan.
- Seething -For his troubles, he sustained a back injury after a heavy collision with a Honduras player.
Messi then returned to Spain to give evidence in his tax fraud trial before hopping on a plane to California to join up with the Argentina squad at the Copa America Centenario.
He missed the first game in Santa Clara, but sparkled with a 19-minute hat-trick against Panama in the group stage.
Another goal against Venezuela saw him level Gabriel Batistuta's all-time scoring record, with 54, before he surpassed that mark with a magical free-kick in a 4-0 romp over the United States in the semi-finals.
Yet despite being all smiles on the pitch, off the pitch problems have bothered Messi, with the crisis-ridden Argentina Football Association the subject of his ire.He was left seething after a flight from Houston to New Jersey was held up, taking to social media to vent his frustration.
"Once again waiting on a plane to leave for our destination," Messi wrote. "What a disaster the AFA are. My god!"
He was also the subject of more sniping from Argentina legend Diego Maradona "He's a really good person, but he has no personality," Maradona said bluntly in Paris. "He lacks (the) character to be a leader."
Maradona then followed that salvo with a blunt statement that Argentina's players shouldn't bother returning to their homeland if they failed to win Sunday's final.
Until Messi's declaration in the depths of the MetLife Stadium on Sunday, he had been content to do most of his talking on pitch.
Yet now it seems likely, barring a retirement U-turn, that Messi will never emulate Maradona's success in leading Argentina to a World Cup title.
Source : AFP