Lionel Messi opens up on shock defeat to Saudi Arabia in the World Cup and how the loss helped the Argentina squad

Lionel Messi recently opened up to Argentina suffering a defeat to Saudi Arabia in their opening game of the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

La Albiceleste succumbed to a 2-1 defeat against Saudi. After Messi opened the scoring in the 10th minute with a penalty, Saleh Alshehri and Salem Aldawsari netted for the Asian country to seal the comeback.

The former Barcelona forward recently reflected on the match, telling beIN Sport:

"I think that the first match was one of the key moments for us, apart from the fact that it was a big blow for us. I think from then on we started to think and play differently because we knew we couldn't make any more mistakes, any mistakes would put us out of the competition."

Messi admitted that they didn't expect to start the tournament in that manner but claimed that wake up call came at a good time for Argentina. He said:

"We didn't expect to start that way, losing the first match against Saudi Arabia whch we thought or thetre was the perception that it was going to be the easiest match of the group, in fact it was quite the opposite. It was one of the most difficult moments for us and then obviously beating Mexico put it back into our hands again and we were able to play calmly."

He added:

"Looking at it with everything that's happened, although it was a tough blow for us, it came at the right time and it was good for us."

Despite the nightmarish start, La Albiceleste went on to win the World Cup in Qatar. Lionel Messi played a starring role in the win. The 35-year-old scored seven goals and provided three assists, bagging home the Golden Ball award.

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Sergio Busquets to join Lionel Messi at Inter Miami

Lionel Messi's time in European football is up as he is set to join David Beckham's co-owned MLS club Inter Miami as a free agent this summer.

Messi will have a familiar face as his teammate at his new club. Inter Miami announced that Barcelona legend Sergio Busquets will also be joining as a free agent. The Spaniard has already played his final match for the Blaugrana and is set to leave at the end of this month.

Messi and Busquets were teammates at Barca and shared the pitch for 567 games, the most the Argentine shared the pitch with any teammate. Together, they won three UEFA Champions League trophies, among other honors.