- By Ciaran Varley
- BBC Sport
43 minutes ago
Video caption,
Lionel Messi: Destiny documentary trailer
Watch Lionel Messi: Destiny on BBC One particular on Saturday, three June at 22:20 GMT, and on BBC iPlayer
A new BBC documentary tells the inside story of how the good Lionel Messi lastly won the Globe Cup.
In an hour-lengthy film, the BBC delves into that achievement with input from some of these involved – which includes players Emiliano Martinez, Alexis Mac Allister and Julian Alvarez, and manager Lionel Scaloni.
Right here are a couple of takeaways from Lionel Messi: Destiny…
A sleepless evening followed defeat by Saudi Arabia
Argentina went into the tournament as 1 of the favourites, and on the back of a 36-game unbeaten run.
But their self-confidence was rocked as they lost their opening Group C game two-1 to Saudi Arabia in 1 of the greatest Globe Cup shocks of all time.
“It was the hardest evening of my life – I could not sleep,” recalls goalkeeper Martinez. “I was afraid of having knocked out of my 1st Globe Cup.”
The Aston Villa player, 30, compares the game to a boxing match in which 1 particular person gets knocked out. “We could not fight back,” he says.
Mac Allister played ‘like he was in his back garden’
The 24-year-old flourished alongside Messi, Enzo Fernandez and Angel di Maria.
“He’s a full midfielder,” says former Argentina ideal-back Pablo Zabaleta.
Scaloni is also complete of praise for Mac Allister, saying: “He showed us a thing that we did not know about him – he does not really feel stress.
“It is like he’s playing in his back garden.”
Argentina’s players felt at household in Qatar
Scaloni did a good job of generating the ideal atmosphere for his players in Qatar – which includes importing some household comforts.
At the time, it was reported the squad had two,000lbs (900kg) of meat flown more than from South America.
“Almost everything was great,” says Mac Allister. “It felt like household. We played cards and drank [caffeine rich] mate tea… and even had Argentine meat!”
Zabaleta says these 3 issues are “like a religion” for Argentines.
Messi became ‘that poor boy’ against the Netherlands
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Netherlands two-two Argentina highlights
Argentina came by way of a especially fiery quarter-final that featured 18 yellow cards – two of which resulted in the sending-off of Netherlands defender Denzel Dumfries.
Just after the final whistle, the Argentina players taunted their opponents, with Martinez – who saved two penalties in the shootout that followed a two-two draw – shouting at Netherlands boss Louis van Gaal.
“I heard Van Gaal saying that in a penalty shootout they had the benefit,” he mentioned immediately after the game. “I feel he desires to preserve his mouth shut.”
Even the commonly mild-mannered Messi took problem with a comment from Van Gaal, who had mentioned the Argentina captain did not “participate a lot” when his group lost the ball.
When Messi scored throughout regular time, he ran straight to the Dutch bench and cupped his ears.
That celebration, as the film explains, was inspired by former group-mate Juan Roman Riquelme, who felt badly treated by Van Gaal at Barcelona.
But quite a few had been shocked by this new side to Messi.
“We are much more aggressive than the national group he had just before,” says Martinez. “He was almost certainly becoming a tiny bit much more like us – that poor boy.”
Martinez is like ‘a youngster on the pitch’
Martinez was Argentina’s shootout hero as soon as once again in the final as La Albiceleste beat the defending champions.
His antics drew a lot of comment, as he threw the ball away, danced, and celebrated in front of France’s players.
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How Martinez’s antics helped Argentina win shootout
Referring to the jig he did immediately after Aurelien Tchouameni missed France’s third penalty, he says: “I under no circumstances danced the way I danced immediately after the second pen that they missed. By no means in my life.
“That is me. I am a youngster on the pitch. I do not see what is going to occur subsequent.”