The first statement from Messi after the defeat against Saudi Arabia
Lionel Messi, captain of the Argentine national team, said that there are no excuses after the loss from the Saudi national team today, Tuesday, in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Messi added in post-match statements: "We knew that Saudi Arabia is a team with good players, and that they move the ball well and advance in the line a lot. We worked on that, but we rushed a bit."
He continued: "There are no excuses, we will be more united than ever. This group is strong and has shown it. Now we have to show that this is a real group."
And he concluded: “It is a severe blow for everyone. We did not expect to start in this way. Things happen for a reason. We have to prepare for what is coming. We have to win or win and it is up to us. We have to think about what is coming.”
And he continued, "It (the victory) would have made us more comfortable. But this group (of players) is characterized by its unity, its solidity. It is time for us to be more together than ever. To go back to the basics and our style of play."
When asked about the feeling of the Argentine team after the match, Messi replied with "disappointment", repeating, "It is a very harsh blow. We did not think we would start like this. We thought we would start well, with three points, as we said before the match."
The Argentine national team opened the scoring in the tenth minute with a goal scored by Lionel Messi from a penalty kick, then the Saudi national team decided the match in its favor with two goals in the second half, scored by Saleh Al-Shehri and Salem Al-Dosari in the 49th and 53rd minutes.
In the presence of 88,000 fans at Lusail Stadium, which will host the World Cup final, the Saudi national team achieved a historic victory, as it is its first over Argentina, in the first confrontation between the two teams in the history of the World Cup.
The Saudi national team met its Argentine counterpart 4 previous times, which witnessed two victories for Argentina and two draws. Today, the Argentine national team lost its opening match in the World Cup for the first time since the 1990 edition, which saw its defeat by Cameroon.
The Argentine national team was generally the best during the first half in terms of possession and offensive danger, and advanced with Messi's early goal, and also managed to score three more times in the 22nd, 28th, and 35th minutes through Messi and Lautaro Martinez (twice), but the referee did not count them as goals for offside.
