Since he left Newell's Old Boys for Barcelona, Messi obviously hasn't had the chance to play against teams from Argentina often. However, he has in fact played against some of them, which this entry will look in deep. Without further ado, let's get into it.
His first encounter would have been against Boca Juniors in the 2008 Joan Gamper, but he was playing in the Olympics at that time so he wasn't in the squad.
His first real encounter with an Argentinian team was against Estudiantes de La Plata in the 2009 Club World Cup final. Estudiantes had won the Libertadores that year so they earned a spot in the tournament. Boselli opened up the score with a header, and nearly won them the final, but Pedro equalized the game near the end with another header. In extra-time, Messi made a well-remembered goal with his chest to win the Club World Cup, which would be Barça's complete Sextuple. He also won the Golden Ball in the final and in the tournament overall, as well as the Silver Boot.
Later in 2015, this time they faced River Plate in the Club World Cup final, a team which Messi had made some practices on, but never went anywhere. He scored the first of Barcelona's three goals in the game, the two after coming from Suárez. This time, Messi won the Silver Ball in the final and in the tournament.
The last time he played against a team from Argentina was against Boca Juniors in the 2018 Joan Gamper. He assisted the first goal for Malcolm, scored the second goal with a nice chip, and Rafinha ended the job, making it 3-0 for Barça. Messi was the MVP of the final for his great performance.
Even though those teams are from his own country, Messi performs as always against them. I hope you liked this entry and I'll see you in the next one.
No comments:
Post a Comment