Many would like to be Lionel Messi and be a global superstar. However, Tata Martino who has managed the Argentine superstar at both Barcelona and Argentina says it is really difficult to be Lionel Messi. Widely regarded as the world’s best player, Messi will be looking to win a major trophy soon with his national team.
Martino praised Messi’s humility, his dedication to the game and what Argentina might expect from him in the years to come.
"We need to understand how difficult it is to be Lionel Messi," Martino told Goal in an exclusive interview.
"Despite being the greatest, Messi is an ordinary guy. He speaks like a normal guy, he acts like a normal guy. As a normal person, he has family, day-to-day problems in his life, friends and family, the usual.
"Messi hasn't achieved everything yet. It should be clear to everyone that his life isn't all plain sailing. In football, things don't always go his way. It's clear that not having won with Argentina weighs on him."
"There are no doubts: he plays with the same intensity for club and country," Martino continued.
"Messi played great at the Copa America. It's a tournament where you need to play every 3 or 4 days and he played very well. He's strong willed - you see how determined he is when he plays for Argentina.
"And you can even see how determined he is at an event which has nothing to do with Argentina, like the Ballon d'Or which he received for his received for his work at Barcelona.
"Again he talked about needing to achieve greater success with Argentina."
Martino says Argentina players were devastated by Copa America loss
Messi and Argentina narrowly missed out on the Copa America title and the manager said the players were dejected with their narrow loss.
"I don't know what it was like after the World Cup but I remember the room after the Copa final," he said.
"If you took a picture of that room, saw those faces, then nobody would argue that these guys lacked emotion after what happened to Argentina.
"It's clear that we need to win, collectively, and anyone who works in football knows that it's difficult to gain true recognition without titles.
"Unfortunately, this is reality. I do not share this view – for me what's important is how we tread the path."
