‘No excuses’ - Messi shocked after Argentina suffer Saudi defeat
LIONEL Messi says Argentina have “no excuses” after they fell to a hugely disappointing 2-1 loss to Saudi Arabia in their World Cup opener at Lusail Stadium on Tuesday.
“There are no excuses,” Messi told reporters in a postmatch news conference.
“It’s a very hard blow for everyone, we didn’t expect to start like this. We are going to be more united than ever. This group is strong and they have shown it.
“This is a situation that we did not have to go through in a long time. Now we have to show that this is a real group.
“Things happen for a reason. We have to prepare for what’s coming, we have to win and it depends on us.” After Messi converted from the spot to put Argentina 1-0 up after just 10 minutes, Lionel Scaloni’s men remarkably saw three goals chalked off for offside before half-time as Saudi Arabia employed a bravely high line.
Messi complimented Herve Renard’s side for their defending, but conceded Argentina could have done more to break through. He said: “We knew that [Saudi] Arabia is a team with good players, that moves the ball well and that advances the [defensive] line a lot.
“We had worked on it, but that’s why we had many goals ruled out. Perhaps we did not find the right moment to avoid falling into the trap.”
The defeat ended a run of 36 matches unbeaten, and Messi feels La Albiceleste need to get the fundamentals right to bounce back and salvage their World Cup campaign which is personal fifth and last.
Messi added. “It’s up to us to correct what we did wrong, [and] try to get back to the base of who we are.”