Part of Edgardo Bauza’s baptism as Argentina‘s manager involved persuading Lionel Messi to continue playing for La Albiceleste. El Paton clearly played his part, as the product of La Masia is still crossing the Atlantic Ocean to represent his country. But that doesn’t mean the manager believes the national team is reliant on the player.
After Messi converted a penalty kick to score the lone goal in Argentina’s 1-0 victory over Chile in 2018 World Cup qualifying, Bauza repeated his belief that La Albiceleste doesn’t depend on the diminutive attacker for success.
Related: Messi’s penalty powers Argentina to crucial win over Chile
“I do not think (Argentina) is Messi-dependent, I think that Lionel has played a good game today,” Bauza told reporters after the game, according to ESPN FC. “They (the players) repeated the idea of the last one, where he took the ball, pressed quickly. And then, as long as we have time to work, we will improve. I am not worried about that. The game does not worry me because we are going to improve it.”
For Messi, Argentina’s win marked a small measure for revenge for the final of the Copa America Centenario, …read more