Argentine captain and forward Lionel Messi said he was disappointed to have missed out on the Olympic Games to be held in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro in August. He will be playing the Copa America Centenario instead.
Argentine coach Gerardo Martino, who had earlier coached Messi at Barcelona, decided not to take the superstar to the Olympics as he would already be playing at the Copa America in July this year. It had been agreed between club and country that Messi would only play either of the two competitions.
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Martino said that Messi had complied with the decision to skip the Olympics to avenge their loss in the Copa America final to the Jorge Sampaoli led Chile team last year.
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The five-time Ballon d’Or winner in an interview to ESPN FC, admitted that he was disappointed to not go to the Olympics saying, “I would have liked to go because it was a spectacular experience for me to play in the [2008] Olympics, just as it was for the [2005] Under-20 World Cup. Not just because we won, but for the experience I gained.”
The 28-year-old added, "It was a great experience to stay in the Olympic Village and meet other elite athletes from other sports and to be just another athlete among them. That was very spectacular even though we didn't spend a lot of time in the village. The World Cup is great but the Olympics are something special."
14-time Copa America champions, Argentina will be looking to win the Copa America in July for the first time since 1993, with a fully fit Lionel Messi at their disposal. They have been drawn in a group consisting of last year’s finalists Chile along with Panama and Bolivia.
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Commenting on the Copa, which is going to be held in the United States this year, Messi said, “It is a new Copa, different. Very nice in the United States and very different from what I have played before because of the people, the stadiums.” He added, “That will make it different and for us, a new chance."
Messi was part of the Argentine squad which won the Gold medal for football in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. He was key to the team winning the tournament along with playmaker Juan Roman Riquelme. Messi and Riquelme were later singled out as standout players of the Olympics by FIFA.
