Messi dedicates Copa title to family, country and Maradona
BUENOS AIRES: Lionel Messi has dedicated Argentina’s Copa America triumph over Brazil to his family, his country and also late idol Diego Maradona.
“I want to dedicate this success to my family, who have always given me the strength to continue, to my friends whom I love so much, to all the people who support us and above all to 45 millions Argentinians who have suffered so with this dreadful virus,” Barcelona megastar Messi wrote on Instagram.
Argentina is approaching a 100,000 Covid-19 death toll and weeks before the start of the Copa tournament Buenos Aires refused to co-stage the event with Colombia owing to the surge in pandemic cases.
South American confederation CONMEBOL ultimately transferred hosting rights to Brazil at the last minute despite that country having seen more than half a million virus deaths, the second highest global tally ater the United States.
Messi, 34, also paid tribute to the memory of Maradona,whodiedaged60lastnovember,saying that “Diego was surely urging us on wherever he is”.
Argentina’s success over the Brazilians in Rio was not just Messi’s first major trophy for the Albiceleste but his country’s first continental honour in 28 years.
Messi had been desperate to lead the side to glory ater a series of disappointments both at World Cups and the Copa.
Given its batle against the further spread of the virus, Argentina has not organised celebrations to mark their title win.
Ater arriving back in the country on Sunday, the squad were briefly received at the country’s footballfederationheadquartersandthendispersed for a pre-season break.
Despite the low-key welcome, thousands of fans took to the streets despite tight virus restrictions.
“To continue to party we must continue to take care of each other -- let’s not forget we have a long way to go to get back to normality,” Messi warned.
“Use this happiness to gather strength to fight this virus together.”
Meanwhile, hundreds of fans gathered in cities across Argentina Sunday to celebrate their team’s victorious return from the 2021 Copa America, where they beat Brazil on home turf.
The Argentinian Football Association ( AFA) had not planned any official celebration given the coronavirus epidemic, which had caused the country to pull out of co-hosting the tournament, which then went to even worse-hit Brazil.
Lionel Messi and his team arrived home in Buenos Aires Sunday morning on a private flight from Rio de Janeiro, and submited to coronavirus tests.
In two buses emblazoned with the words “Champions of America 2021” and the number 15 -- for Argentina’s number of Copa America wins -- the team was escorted from the airport by police as hundreds supporters gathered along the highway, waving and cheering.
“Beautiful, beautiful. And thank you, because the people needed it,” exclaimed one fan, Emilio Navarro.