Messi broke his silence after Argentina's dream of winning the World Cup collapsed on Sunday. Spain won the 2026 World Cup final at the New York-New Jersey stadium.
Argentina's captain, Lionel Messi, admitted that the pain of losing the title is very strong. At the same time, Messi also expressed pride in his team's journey, which reached the final twice in a row.
The day after the defeat, Messi shared his thoughts on this failure on his Instagram social network. He noted that accepting the result will take time and emphasized that the team's achievements cannot be ignored.
Messi wrote: 'The pain is very deep, and it will take time to heal this wound. But I will keep all the good memories, the matches we turned around by putting our whole soul into, the matches that will forever remain in our memory, the support of the entire country, which, together with the hard work and efforts of this group, once again included us among the best teams in the world. It is difficult to fully appreciate what we achieved today, but this group made it to the World Cup final twice in a row.'
Furthermore, Messi congratulated Spain. The Argentine captain thanked the fans for supporting the team throughout the tournament and also sent congratulations to Spain for winning the trophy. He added: 'From the bottom of my heart, thank you for every wish and every message. Once again, we united as a country and felt proud to be citizens of Argentina. I also want to congratulate Spain on their victory in the championship.'
Argentina's head coach Lionel Scaloni shared strong emotions after his team won 3-2 against Egypt on Tuesday. He shed tears alongside Lionel Messi after the defending champions managed to recover from a two-goal deficit and advance to the World Cup quarterfinals.
Argentina, which trailed the North African side 0-2 with only 11 minutes left in the match, managed to equalize thanks to goals from Cristian Romero, Messi, and an extra-time goal from Enzo Fernandez, thus avoiding a shocking defeat.
Scaloni admitted to reporters that he is always emotional, and that tears were shed in the locker room as well. He noted that players even call him a 'crying child,' but he doesn't mind. The coach added that for anyone who has played football for 20 years, experiencing such feelings again is incredible, and he believes that many coaches become this way precisely because of such moments, adrenaline, and emotions.
Scaloni emphasized that he never felt like the game was slipping away from Argentina, despite Egypt's two-match lead. He stated that, besides the result, the team did not play poorly because they had chances. The coach also noted a significant improvement in the team's play on Tuesday compared to the previous round, when Argentina spent 120 minutes to beat Cabo Verde 3-2 and showed signs of vulnerability in a tough physical test. Scaloni compared these matches, noting that against Cabo Verde it was worse and the team looked troubled, whereas today, even at 0-2, it felt like they could create a chance and turn the tide, stating: 'Today we played completely different football.'
Furthermore, Scaloni highly praised his 39-year-old captain Messi, who missed a penalty in the first half but then inspired the comeback with a goal and an assist, and was himself seen crying. Scaloni expressed conviction that Messi plays for moments like these, and that for him to experience such emotions at this stage of his career is hard to explain. The coach called this moment 'unforgettable, one of the best' and added that whatever happens next, this team gives him the feeling that it never stops believing, even when everything is going against it.
In the final eighth round, Argentina will play Switzerland or Colombia in Kansas City on Saturday.
