Soccer
PSG’s Lionel Messi earns high praise from Lautaro Martinez claiming Argentina icon “is our leader, our flag, and our reference”
The Argentina soccer team has seen great success in recent times. They won back-to-back major trophies, winning the Copa America in 2021 and the World Cup in 2022. Lionel Messi has been the most loved man in Argentina since then.
The seven times Ballon d’Or winner was instrumental in Qatar as Argentina lifted their third world cup, 36 years after the legendary Diego Maradona lifted the trophy himself. Messi was awarded the golden ball, but we all saw that it didn’t matter to him much as he kissed the World Cup trophy.
During this time, Lionel led the South American team as captain and served as motivation in the locker room. His teammates unanimously acclaim him as the “greatest of all time” and hold him in the highest esteem.
The people of his country love him just as much. Lionel Messi returned to a warm welcome in Argentina after the World Cup, as seen in a video that recently went viral online.
Lautaro Martinez says Lionel Messi is Argentina’s “leader”
The former Barca man was not short of praise following Argentina’s World Cup triumph, and his fellow countryman and teammate Lautaro Martinez has jumped on the bandwagon. The prolific Inter Milan striker was asked about the viral video clips. The 25 year old, also impactful in Argentina’s World Cup dominance, replied by saying: “Yes, I saw the clips. He deserves it. He is our leader, our flag, and our reference. I hope he also enjoys all of this because he deserves it.”
The No. 10 for Inter Milan was a teammate of Messi’s in both the Copa America and the World Cup. In spite of failing to add his name to the World Cup scoresheet, he was, along with Julian Alvarez, Angel Di Maria, and Leo Messi, a constant threat to the opposing team.
“Me emociono mucho, es un sueño lo que estamos viviendo. Mañana va a estar mi mamá en la cancha, que no pudo ir a Qatar por miedo a los aviones… Seguro me voy a emocionar”.
Lautaro Martínez. 🇦🇷🫶🏼 pic.twitter.com/dOQW5UO1Az
— Ataque Futbolero (@AtaqueFutbolero) March 22, 2023
However, Lautaro has been a constant performer for Inter Milan throughout the years. He won the Serie A with Inter in the 2020-21 season. During that campaign, he was a key figure for the Inter side, as he appeared in all 38 Serie A games and found the back of the net 17 times.
So far in the current season, Lautaro has scored 14 goals and provided 3 assists in 27 Serie A appearances. Inter Milan are currently in third place in the Serie A table.
Argentina will be facing Panama in an international friendly on Friday. Both Lionel Messi and Lautaro Martinez are expected to be in the starting lineup.
