#win #Monterrey #change
Lionel Messi in Saturday’s match between Inter Miami and Colorado Rapids. (Megan Briggs/Getty Images)
Lionel Messi On Wednesday he will have his most important game since he arrived at Inter Miami. In view of Rayados de Monterrey, The Herons They will play for the ticket to the Semifinals of the Concacaf Champions League. In the first leg, the Mexican club took a 2-1 advantage and will close this key at home at the BBVA Stadium. With five titles in this competition and the home team, Fernando Ortiz’s team looks like a favorite. But that label can fall very easily when the rival now has Messi on the field.
An injury prevented him from being in the first game, but his return, the weekend against the Colorado Rapids, reminded him that his presence is differential (2-2 draw, but with his goal immediately upon his reappearance). Messi has a very extensive history when it comes to facing Mexican clubs, whether at national team or club level. In both cases, the balance is favorable. In the 2006 World Cup in Germany he was part of the Argentina team that eliminated El Tri in the Round of 16.
A year later, he scored his first goal against Mexico in the Copa América Semifinals (3-0 for the Albiceleste). In 2008 he scored again against Tri in a friendly (4-1 victory). At the club level, Barcelona held multiple preseasons in the United States when Messi played there (and played various friendlies against Mexican teams), But the Argentine’s first official match against a Mexican team was in the 2009 Club World Cup, against Atlante.
The Foals They started by beating the team led by Pep Guardiola, but in the second half they brought in Messi and turned the score around 3-1. Until last July, that was the only official meeting in terms of teams. In the Leagues Cup, which marked his official debut with Miami, Messi scored a great goal from a free kick against Cruz Azul.
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As for national teams, Mexico and Argentina met again in 2010 in the World Cup. Messi did not score, although he provided an assist and, in any case, his country won and advanced to the round. For five years, there were no confrontations between both countries. And when there were again… of course, Messi scored again in a friendly in September 2015 (agonizing goal, Mexico directed by the Tuca Ferretti and Argentina, for the Tata Martino).
From 2015 to 2022, Mexico had three friendlies with Argentina, but Messi did not play in any of them, as they were in a stage (2018-2019) in which he took a break. But he appeared again in Qatar 2022, when they needed him most and scored again. That match was marked by tension before, during and after the match. The xenophobic climate on social networks was transferred to reality with brawls on Qatari soil. In addition to that controversy that involved Messi for supposedly kicking the Mexican shirt – although he did not do it, but it generated outrage.
The match against Rayados also had a complex atmosphere. Prior to the match, Fernando Ortiz suggested that “the environment” could favor Messi. The press reported that, after the match, Messi went to rebuke Ortiz. While Nicolás Sánchez, Ortiz’s assistant, told what happened in a leaked audio: he said that Messi tried to hit him and that Gerardo Martino insulted him —and that if Rayados had done that, they would have received a severe penalty—. When the topic exploded, Sánchez clarified what happened on his social networks and said that he did not want to make it public.
😱🚨 “MESSI WANTED TO FIGHT ME, HE PUT HIS FIST NEXT TO MY FACE”
Nico Sánchez revealed the fight that happened in Miami… with Lionel Messi and Tata Martino! 😳
❌ ‘TATA POOR FATTY, HE TOLD ME HOW MUCH I’M GOING TO CRY, BUT I NEVER ANSWERED ANYONE’#FSRadioMX pic.twitter.com/tZqViXtkgv
— FOX Sports MX (@FOXSportsMX) April 5, 2024
“I am present with this video to talk about the audio that went viral. I could have chosen to hide behind a text or have the club act for me, but I preferred to record myself, use this medium to show my face and make it clear that the words I I’m going to say they come out of my mouth and to take charge,” said the former player. “I made the audio, where I explain in detail what happened after the match in the mixed zone. It is an audio that I sent to my inner circle, my closest circle, but far from getting angry with them, it is my mistake. It had never happened to me before.”
It won’t be just another game. Messi never wants to fall, especially in a match in which his team will risk international prestige. So far, he has not lost a game against a Mexican team, considering that he was not present last Wednesday.
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