“The answer is easy: if he is ready to play, he will play. And he will play until he raises his hand,” Scaloni said in response to Télam’s question at the press conference he gave at the AFA grounds.
“What would you do?” Scaloni previously answered Télam’s question about the renowned competitiveness of Messi, who intends to play every game, and much more in important events.
In that sense, the world champion coach, very relaxed, hinted that Messi will be a starter against both Uruguay and Brazil, unless something exceptional happens.
“Leo is fine, he is doing well. Beyond the fact that he played a game in the last 25 days, he is fit,” Scaloni added.
Regarding Messi, the Albiceleste coach also spoke about obtaining his eighth Ballon d’Or and some minimal criticism that occurred due to his recent consecration.
“Whoever doesn’t want to understand reality will be his issue. I try to understand and I don’t think there’s a debate about Leo. I don’t understand it. It’s a little more about the debate because if everyone says he’s the best, there wouldn’t be a debate. There is “We have to see where he comes from. The important thing is that he has it,” said the former Newell’s Old Boys and Estudiantes de La Plata midfielder.
Scaloni focused on today’s match against Uruguay, in La Bombonera, and pointed out that it will be “difficult”, not only because of the hierarchy of the Uruguayan footballers, but also because he will have Marcelo Bielsa in front of him.
“It will be a difficult match because we know how Bielsa approaches them and how Uruguay plays, with its football culture. But we have to impose our game. They have their strength. We will try not to change and if we have to change something we will do it,” said the coach born in Pujato, province of Santa Fe.
“Bielsa’s way of training is well known to everyone, he doesn’t change his way of playing. I don’t think we have an advantage. We have to get away from everything he proposes and that is the difficult thing and we will try to do it,” said the Argentine coach.
Scaloni recognized Bielsa as “a reference” and that he knows him from his time at Newell’s Old Boys: “It is a joy to face him. Not at the moment of the match because of everything that it represents to face a team of his, but those of us who are marked are marked We passed through his hands. It will be a satisfaction. I will greet him as I do with everyone,” he indicated.
In this context, Scaloni revealed that he had a talk with Bielsa many years ago and that it remained with him forever: “He must not remember the talk. Bielsa teaches you a lot, about what it is like to represent this shirt, and in the clubs too. “It helps you understand a different way of playing than what you were used to, it marked a trajectory, and those talks mark you.”
For Scaloni, Argentina, current champion of the world (Qatar 2022) and of America (Copa América 2021), this team “showed that it is ready to fight against any rival”, in reference to the clashes against Uruguay, in La Bombonera, and Brazil in Rio de Janeiro, next Tuesday.
“We are going to be up to the task. This team is capable of competing. They are great, historic rivals and we will be there to play our game,” he added.
In any case, the Argentine coach avoided talking about the classic against Brazil: “There is no need because we have Uruguay before and there is no point in thinking about the second game. We think about the best for the first and we go game by game. It is not difficult to make them understand that to the players.”
Ángel Di María, one of the pillars of the team who returned recovered from an injury, deserved a separate paragraph for Scaloni, who made another request to the journalists who gathered in Ezeiza, with emphasis on the last matches of “Fideo” with the albiceleste jacket.
“There is a lot left for the Copa América. We like to be nostalgic and we are already thinking that it will no longer be there. It is the same with Leo. We have to enjoy it that we have it now, with the national team shirt. It makes no sense to know “What’s going to happen? He comes from an injury, he’s fit. He has no problems, when he comes back he gets back on track quickly. Then I’ll make the decision if he plays right away or not, but he’s fine,” Scaloni said.
