Lionel Messi confirmed that the Argentine national team was looking forward to winning the exceptional match against Chile in the South American qualifiers for the World Cup Qatar 2022, coinciding with the unveiling of a statue of the late legend Diego Maradona.
Maradona, the former star of the Argentine national team and Napoli, Italy, is considered one of the most prominent players in the history of football, but he died last November at the age of 60 as a result of heart problems.
Messi and his Argentina teammates gathered outside the Unico Madre de Ciudades Stadium in Santiago del Estero;
To reveal the statue of Maradona before the match against Chile, which ended in a 1-1 draw.
Messi (left) in front of the statue of Maradona (Reuters)
In the first match for the Argentine national team since the departure of Maradona;
Messi took the lead with a penalty kick in the 24th minute, but Alexis Sanchez equalized the score for Chile 12 minutes later.
📹 Los mejores momentos del empate entre @Argentina y @LaRoja, fue 1 a 1 por la fecha 7⃣ de las #EliminatoriasSudamericanas
🔹 Argentina, con esta igualdad, llegó a 7 partidos sin caídas y Chile enterró una racha de 5 juegos perdidos seguidos como visitante por Eliminatorias pic.twitter.com/pyzFbzqyN4
— CONMEBOL.com (@CONMEBOL) June 4, 2021
Maradona won the World Cup in Mexico in 1986 with the Argentine national team, and the Italian league title twice with the Napoli team.
After the match, Messi said, "It was an exceptional match because it was the first without Diego."
"We know what the national team means to him, even if he is not on the field, he is always there."
He pointed out, "Because it is the first match without him and because of everything that is happening in Argentina and in the world, it is also unfortunate that the fans are not there."
"We wanted to dedicate the victory to Diego and represent the national team as he has always done, to leave everything behind and we have to continue," Messi said.