Lionel Messi was lazy in Copa America: Messi's grandfather

Lionel Messi has been blamed of not being fully present during the Copa America

Not many would dare to call Lionel Messi ‘lazy’ and when someone does, it comes from somebody close to the Barcelona star. Antonio Cuccitini, who is Lionel Messi’s grandfather criticised Argentina’s captain and his grandson by calling his performances at the recently concluded Copa America as lazy according to a report in Telegraph.

Messi had managed to score only a single goal in the whole tournament which is very low compared to his very high standards. The Barcelona man had also converted his penalty in the shoot-out which was not enough as Argentina lost to Chile in the final.

The 28-year-old had made three assists against Paraguay in the semi-final and also managed to perform well even when Carlos Tevez and others were using up all the space which Messi usually enjoys during matches.

The Paraguay thrashing was one of the best examples of a brilliant Messi performance as the La Albiceleste captain was involved in every goal his team scored.

It was one of the best performances by any player in the tournament. His performance earned him his highest WhoScored rating till date in Argentina colours as reported in the Telegraph report.

Argentina failed to recreate that performance in the final as Chile ended their 99-year wait for a trophy. Messi was believed to be so dejected that he did not accept the award for the best player of the tournament, according to reports.

It appeared that the officials removed one of the trophies which was believed to be the Best Player award at the award ceremony.

When it comes to Argentina, Messi gets a lot of stick when the team fails and the comments by his granddad follow a similar pattern as he is blamed for the team’s collective failure.

Cuccitini said that his grandson was not fully present at the tournament, especially in the last three matches. "Some of him was there,” said Cuccitini, in an interview with Radio Casilda as reported by The Telegraph.

“Triumphs are the greatest things there are. But the last three games he was bad. He was lazy.”

Messi had won a treble with Barcelona last season and was expected to carry that form into the Copa America to help Argentina win their first Copa America title since 1993. But their second defeat in as many finals at the international stage has put the weight of the blame on the Barcelona star.

It may not be easy when the criticism comes from your own family. But the expectations from Messi is so high in Argentina that only a title victory can exorcise the huge burden of expectation placed on the little maestro.