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What is the story?
Argentina legend and one of the greatest of all time, Diego Maradona, has criticized Lionel Messi and his Argentine colleagues for their recent disastrous 3-1 loss to Venezuela. The former Argentina captain and World Cup winner also questioned the capability of the recent bunch of players to wear the famous Albiceleste shirt.
In case you didn’t know….
Argentina suffered a humiliating 1-3 defeat at the hands of Venezuela on Friday night in an International friendly. It was also Messi’s first match in Argentina colors after his self-imposed exile from the national set-up since their shambolic performance in the 2018 World Cup.
Messi failed to inspire a young bunch of new generation Argentine players managed by Lionel Scaloni and looked a shadow of himself throughout the 90 minutes. It was only the second time in 25 attempts that Venezuela got the better of the Albiceleste.
Venezuela went ahead in the 6th minute of the game courtesy to a wonderful strike from New Castle United striker Salomón Rondón. Murillo doubled the lead for Venezuela through a beautiful curler from the edge of the box just before the half time whistle.
Though Argentina pulled one back through Lautaro Martínez, their dream of scoring the equalizer was washed away as Venezuela struck for the third time in the game.
The heart of the matter…
Maradona slammed the players and Argentina management and also confessed that he feels “sorry” for the fans (via AS):
“I prefer not to watch horror films, but I don’t know how the inept bunch who are in charge of Argentina thought they were going to beat Venezuela,” Maradona said.
"I feel sorry for the fans and the players"
“It hurts me because I feel Argentinean to the core, but with the generation of players like [Oscar] Ruggeri, [Gabriel] Batistuta, [Claudio] Caniggia... the current team don’t deserve to wear the shirt”
Maradona also took a dig at the AFA president, Claudio Tapia:
“We’d give our lives to see the back of [Claudio] Tapia, who has no idea what he’s doing,” he added.
What’s Next?
Argentina will face Morocco next on the 26th of March, however, Lionel Messi will not be available for selection because of his injury which he picked up against Venezuela on fridayFriday.
