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Aston Villa winger Emiliano Buendia has revealed that Lionel Messi influenced his decision to represent Argentina instead of Spain at international level.
Buendia was born in Mar de Plata, Argentina, but moved to Spain at the age of 12 to join Real Madrid's youth academy. Without making a senior appearance for Los Blancos, he began an eight-year journey with Getafe in the summer of 2010.
He was then called up to the U-19 Spain squad in the autumn of 2014, where he played in his team's wins against Germany U-19 and Greece U-19.
He traveled to the U-20 FIFA World Cup the following year with Argentina's U-20 side. He played all three group-stage games where they managed just two points.
Buendia has revealed that it was between these two call-ups that he had an important conversation with Messi. He told Sky Sports (h/t BirminghamLive):
"(Messi) was close to me, put his hand on his mouth, and asked, 'I know you're playing for Spain; what are you going to do; are you going to play for Argentina?"
He added:
"Obviously, I said to him, 'I want to play for Argentina. I want to play with them with you.' He is my idol, and he is, for me, the best player in history."
Buendia faced the Argentina icon twice as an opponent while playing for Getafe - in the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons. He played the full-time 90 minutes in both games as his team lost by a 6-0 margin on two separate occasions.
He finally got the chance to represent his country this February when he played 10 minutes in a 1-0 win against Colombia. Unfortunately, Messi wasn't a part of the matchday squad.
Lionel Messi's Argentina begin 2022 FIFA World Cup journey against Saudi Arabia
Lionel Messi's Argentina will have to navigate through a rather manageable group to get into the round of 16.
They face Saudi Arabia on November 22 before facing Mexico four days later. Their Group C journey concludes on November 30 when they face Poland.
Group C winners will play against the second-placed team in Group D and vice versa. Hence, Argentina could expect to face either France or Denmark in the last 16, given that Tunisia and Australia don't spring a surprise.
La Albiceleste are yet to get their hands on the World Cup trophy since 1986. They were eliminated by France in the last 16 of the 2018 FIFA World Cup by a 4-3 margin.
