Lionel Messi on retirement: 'I did not deceive anybody'
As far as retirements go, Lionel Messi's retirement from Argentina soccer was a pretty short one. But the Barcelona star said he was not trying to fool anyone when he said he was retiring in June and reversed that decision two weeks ago.
"I am very grateful [to return to the national team]," Messi told TV Publica. "But I did not deceive anybody when I retired, I felt that. We were very disappointed with what had happened, but after that I thought better. I had a conversation with the [coach] Paton [Bauza] and the people as well accompanied me through it."
Messi's comments about retiring came immediately after a devastating loss to Chile in the Copa America final -- Messi's fourth final with Argentina that he lost -- which led some people to speculate Messi didn't really mean it.
But in the weeks that followed, the people of Argentina pushed hard to get Messi to come back. Hundreds of fans rallied in Buenos Aires begging the star to return. The mayor of Buenos Aires unveiled a statue in Messi's likeness. And even the president of the country urged Messi to represent Argentina again.
The turning point was the hiring of Edgardo Bauzo as coach, who met with Messi and said he only talked soccer with Messi without begging the star to return. Messi said despite some of the problems that have plagued the Argentina soccer federation, he wanted to reverse his retirement and help fix things from the inside.
Messi scored the game-winner in his return for Argentina on Thursday, a 1-0 win over Uruguay. But Messi said he will probably need to miss their next 2018 World Cup qualifier against Venezuela on Tuesday. He still wants to show his support after the uproar his brief retirement stirred, he added.
"I don't know if I will play against Venezuela," he said. "I have a lot of pain in my groin but I wanted to be here after the disturbance I caused."
Argentina sit at the top of the South American standings for 2018 World Cup qualifying.
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