Walk away for good, Maradona advises Messi

Argentina great Diego Maradona has advised new-age icon Lionel Messi to confirm his retirement from the national team. Speaking ahead of the October 2018 international football break, the world cup winner who is a great admirer of Messi advised him to walk away for good as the country was no longer appreciating the Barcelona man’s contributions.

Maradona said that his advice to Messi would be that he walks away completely and let the Abiceleste handle that. He fumed that Messi is always faulted for the team’s failings, even those that did not in any way involve him. To put this in perspective, Maradona said that Messi was likely to receive blame if the under-15 team performed badly.

He even said that Messi should use a few profanities while telling off the national team.

The October 2018 call comes at a time when Argentina is starting a new era following another underwhelming World Cup display that saw them fall at the round of 16 after barely making it out of the group stages. They have since appointed Lionel Scaloni to take charge on an interim basis following the departure of Jorge Sampaoli.

The new manager did not call up Lionel Messi for the September break, and again left him out for the October session that will see them face Brazil and Iraq. He has however not been quick to give away the no. 10 shirt worn by Messi, an indicator that he is not yet done with the little magician. But that does not please Maradona either.

Diego thins that the coach is a ‘jerk’ for his actions, saying he should have given the shirt to Leo to identify the future number ten. Whatever happens soon, Messi will remain an icon of Argentinian football. He has represented them well on the globe, produced some amazing (albeit unrewarding) displays for the national team and remains the leading goal scorer with 65 strikes.