Messi laments Argentina's draw with Chile: We were not calm
Messi sad for Argentina's draw with Chile.
EPA
picture
Lionel Messi scored a beautiful goal from a free kick that was not enough to spare Argentina a 1-1 draw with Chile, at dawn yesterday, in the first round of the group stage of the Copa America 2021 in Rio de Janeiro, while Paraguay started its campaign with an explicit victory over the incomplete Bolivia 3-1. .
The Barcelona star gave his team a well-deserved advance about half an hour after the start of the match, but Eduardo Vargas equalized for Chile at the beginning of the second half, following up on a penalty kick to his colleague Arturo Vidal that goalkeeper Emiliano Martins saved.
Despite Argentina's control of a tough match, Messi lamented, "We were not calm, we did not control the ball."
But his coach, Lionel Scaloni, saw things differently. “We deserved to win, but in the end we drew.
In any case, we are at the beginning of a very difficult tournament.”
“I would have worried if the team failed to create chances.
The important thing is that a lot of players reach the penalty area.
And the ball will go in.”
For his part, Chile's Uruguayan coach Martin Lasarte said, "The team did not want to lose, even though it did not play well.
This group of players is daring.”
Argentina will meet Uruguay in their next match on Friday.
Before the start of the match in the first group that saw Paraguay win over Bolivia, the Argentine legend Diego Maradona, who died last November at the age of 60 due to health problems, was honored.
The stands of Nelson Santos Stadium in Rio de Janeiro were empty of fans, due to restrictions imposed to avoid the outbreak of the Corona virus.
Argentina drew the same result with Chile about 10 days ago in the Qatar 2022 World Cup qualifiers, when they also opened the scoring through Messi from a penalty kick, before equalizing Alexis Sanchez, who was absent from Monday's match due to a muscle injury.
Chile twice denied Argentina the title in recent years, and on penalties in the 2015 and 2016 finals.
Follow our latest local and sports news and the latest political and economic developments via Google news