‘Football damages Messi’ – Sampaoli

Argentina Coach Jorge Sampaoli believes ‘it is madness’ that star forward Lionel Messi ‘cannot enjoy his talent’ due to modern football.

The former Chile and Sevilla boss has written “My Heartbeats: Ideas Regarding the Culture of Play”, to be released at the beginning of April.

“What I find negative about this type of football is that it damages even Messi,” Sampaoli wrote in an excerpt that appeared in Clarin's weekend magazine, Viva, as cited by ESPN FC.

“A revolver called the World Cup is put to his head and if he doesn't win it, it fires and kills him. It's madness that he cannot enjoy his talent.

“The biggest challenge is to optimize the team so that it does not minimize itself because of the presence of such an important and crucial player.

“The rest of the players ought to be compatible with him and that is not very easy.”

Tags Argentina Lionel Messi
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