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Aston Villa and Argentina star Emiliano Martinez has claimed that Lionel Messi would have swapped all of his Ballon d’Or titles for international glory with Argentina.
In the span of just two years, Argentina icon Lionel Messi has gone from lacking any international accolades to winning the most coveted trophies on offer. In 2021, the Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) ace helped his team to the Copa America trophy. Then, in December 2022, he fired La Albiceleste to the FIFA World Cup, ending their 36-year-long drought.
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Speaking to GOAL, World Cup hero Martinez revealed how much Messi craved an international trophy and the lengths he was prepared to go to get it. Martinez said of the seven-time Ballon d'Or winner:
“It’s lovely to play with him. It’s something I will be proud to tell my kids and grandkids when we are all older. But you know, when we are together, he’s just one more. He’s just Leo. That’s why this group of players gets on so well. We know and we have to respect all that he achieved in football, and all he wanted was to win with the national team.
“He would say that to me. He would leave all the Ballon d’Ors for a Copa America. I saw him saying that when we were going back to Argentina from Brazil and he was holding the trophy. He said, ‘This is the only thing I wanted in my football career’, and I said, ‘So do I!’ I felt proud of that moment, to have helped achieve his dream. He won everything at club level, but still, he was missing something.”
Lionel Messi emerged as the brightest star at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, clinching the Golden Ball after scoring seven times and providing three assists in seven games.
Martinez, meanwhile, produced a series of stunning saves over the course of the tournament, including a few in penalty shootouts, to win the Golden Glove award.
PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi insists club wants to keep Lionel Messi
With his PSG contract expiring in June 2023, Lionel Messi has been linked with a move away from the Parisians. Messi’s former club Barcelona, Saudi Arabian clubs Al-Hilal and Al-Ittihad, as well as Major League Soccer outfit (MLS) Inter Miami, have all been credited with an interest in the player.
Amid swirling rumors about the 2022 FIFA World Cup winner, Al-Khelaifi has declared that Les Parisiens were going to do everything possible to retain their superstars. He told Spanish outlet MARCA:
“We are lucky to have some of the best players in the world, who wanted to play for PSG despite receiving offers from other clubs.
“We are working to keep them going. We are going to analyse what we are doing and make sure we can continue with them; we want to do things accordingly. We are not going to make mistakes.”
While Lionel Messi has been linked with Barcelona, Kylian Mbappe has been linked with Real Madrid. Without taking names, Al-Khelaifi has tried to put both those rumors to bed, insisting that their players were not for sale.
