Mariano Closs revealed why Scaloni changed the position of leaving Messi as a substitute against Paraguay: the great gesture of La Pulga

Argentina beat Paraguay, qualified for the quarterfinals of the Copa América and now he will rest a week for the free date, before closing his participation in the initial phase against Bolivia. Gone was the debate on whether Lionel Messi should have rested in front of the Guaraní cast, a product of the bustle that they have been having at the end of the season and especially by the string of encounters with the National Team. Although La Pulga finally played the whole game, the decline in his physique was noticed at the end.

This was raised by Mariano closs in his editorial this Tuesday, in which reaffirmed the coach’s intention to seat the captain on the bench before the Paraguayans. Not only that, the journalist and rapporteur of ESPN He told why Scaloni changed his position for fear of a shower of criticism if the victory was not achieved and revealed a great gesture from Messi with a partner when he found out that he was playing.

“He spoke with Messi in the morning, but then he slipped away. This was real: ‘Look, you’re not going to play today’. But they told me also that the coaching staff advised him not to speak, do not tell such a player, in this case Messi, today I do not put you because later you go and tell him that you do put it on and you are going to complicate everything “, indicated Mariano Closs in his program Soccer 12 for ESPN. “The thing is that ended up happening because the decision was made and then he had to recall the product of a talk that left him some feeling that was not what he expected ”, affirmed and confirmed Esteban Edul, one of the journalists on the panel.

“And they told me that there was also a good gesture from Messi,” Closs continued. “Because Messi once knew that Scaloni had already told him ‘you don’t play today’, yesterday, and then he goes and says ‘well you’re going to play’, Messi replied: ‘but there is a teammate to whom you told yesterday that he had to play and by taking me out you are looking bad with a teammate’, the rapporteur specified. To which Edul added: “There was one who was and well … he let it be.”

“Good gesture from Messi”, Closs highlighted again. “I think Scaloni was afraid of losing the game without Messi and that the newspaper would fall on him saying that the Argentine team cannot play without Messi”, added.

Later, Esteban Edul gave more details of Scaloni’s intention: “The logic was that if they had to rest, the one who should do it the most was Messi because he was the only one who had played every minute. He was not going to be from the game, on Sunday night the coach spoke with him and told him that he was not going to play. There Messi answered him ‘Do what you have to do’, but later they realized that the decision had not fallen entirely well. Messi never likes to go out and that is known. The team was going to be with five defenders and the one who was going to play was Lisandro Martínez ”. While Mariano Closs limited: “Messi told him there ‘let me fix it, I’ll talk to him’”.

ANOTHER HARD CRITICISM OF SCALONI AFTER THE WIN AGAINST PARAGUAY

As has been happening in the last meetings, Mariano Closs charged strongly against the Argentine coach. Next, the most outstanding phrases of his harsh editorial post victory against Paraguay for the Copa América.

“There marks the inexperience, the doubts that the coaching staff has. What are they holding on to? From the results. To say ‘well, I didn’t lose ‘. But it’s not like that, So when you play against a serious rival, what is going to happen? Against Uruguay they said he played well and Muslera (the goalkeeper) didn’t touch the ball, let’s say things as they are ”.

“They are playing their own game to convince us. Scaloni is not very knowledgeable when it comes to talking about football, he talks about results. Tells you ‘Well, we won 1-0, the state of the field is bad …’. With a few parties, you have to stand out in the Argentine team. Even if they lose games, we could be proud of how the team plays. “

“If you can’t find the way it works now, when? Look, there is no time later, eh. The Copa América is a training for the world championship, this is the truth. With very little you are already there … It is based on the results, it sticks to that. He wants to beat the statistics. You have to play something, if you have the best performers. What happened yesterday makes us talk about how this National Team plays: how it pulls back, why it doesn’t handle the games. “

HOW THE MEETING BETWEEN SCALONI AND MESSI ORIGINATED

The meeting between Scaloni and Lionel messi It occurred in the concentration of Brasilia, prior to the match against Paraguay, more precisely in the after dinner the night before. Before the night break, the DT spoke for a few minutes with the Rosario star to continue with his planning for the quarterfinals of the tournament. Initially, DT analyzed the possibility of giving rest to his maximum figure. What the Ten participated in all the commitments corresponding to the Qualifiers (against Chile and Colombia) and he was also in the first two matches of the Copa América, Scaloni sought to minimize the risk of possible injury and suggested to Leo the possibility of being absent from the duel in front of Paraguay or Bolivia.

Response from Messi It was clear: he has no problem getting out of the starting eleven. Consequently, he was in doubt until the last moment. But as soon as the bus arrived at the Mané Garrincha stadium in Brasilia, it was confirmed that the Barcelona striker will jump onto the field from the start and will equal Javier Mascherano as the player with the highest number of appearances with the Albiceleste jersey (147).

“I think Messi’s leadership is always the same on the pitch. Outside he is a spectacular boy, who leads the group as he has always done. In that it has not changed. His leadership generates it within the field ”, he had said Scaloni at the pre-match press conference with the Albirroja.

After the duel against Paraguay, Argentina will have a week off until the cross against Bolivia. A priori, the set of Cesar Farias is presented as the most accessible and for the last date the Albiceleste could have guaranteed your place in the next phase. Maybe the break will come there for Messi. Or not: maybe only dose minutes. It will be a matter to continue to be agreed between the coaching staff and the star.

The goal of the Selection is to classify as leader or escort of the Group A to avoid a crossing with Brazil in the direct elimination instance, since if the five-time world champion also keeps his zone, the only possible confrontation would be in a hypothetical final.

For the game before Paraguay, the Argentine strategist again moved several names. The left back rotated again (Tagliafico for Acuña), Paredes and Papu Gómez accompanied Guido Rodríguez in the middle and Di María and Agüero completed the offensive trident. With Messi, once again immovable.

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