'Messi has killed 7 coaches and is putting Sampaoli in the fire'
In a recent interview with the media, coach Ricardo Caruso Lombardi - who specializes in leading clubs in South America and is famous for his "fire-fighting" talent, said that Lionel Messi is the "killer" of different coaches.
 |
| Lionel Messi |
The name Lombardi is inherently unfamiliar to football fans. Because Lombardi is not a coach who has built his name in Europe. Rather, what the 56-year-old strategist has done is only lead a few small teams in South America, and his great talent, like Claudio Ranieri, is in "firefighting".
However, having followed South American football for a long time and understood the unique playing style, Lombardi is no stranger to the teams here, including the players when they are called up to the national team. Therefore, after Argentina suffered a disastrous defeat against Croatia in the second match of the 2018 World Cup group stage, while many people defended Messi, Lombardi gave the opposite opinion.
According to the Argentine strategist, Messi is the main factor leading to failure, and is a "killer" who specializes in killing coaches if he feels he doesn't like them: "Messi has destroyed 7 coaches before, and I have the feeling that he played badly to push Sampaoli into the fire. Messi doesn't care about anything else, he plays the opposite of what the coach instructs. Messi is always like that, he always wants to play around the players he likes, not those he doesn't like even though they may be good."
In addition to Lombardi's criticism, to be objective, let's listen to the legendary Mario Kempes - who led Albiceleste to the 1978 World Cup championship - express his opinion: "Even if Messi is the best player in the world, with all his achievements, everything has a beginning and an end. He must be bored, tired or disgusted with the successes for Barcelona, but not with the Argentina national team. Every player has a cycle of success and failure, as well as extreme desire and the boredom that follows."
Meanwhile, another Argentinian, Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone, said: “There is chaos, I don’t see any leadership from any individual, the whole Argentina team is lost. Messi is excellent, but that excellence is only revealed when he plays with extraordinary players. If you had to choose between Messi and Ronaldo to shine in a normal team, who would you choose?”
