In France, we take Lionel Messi in the flu, the virus which prevented him from playing against Monaco last Sunday.
In Argentina, we still adore him as much.
The five-time Ballon d'Or, who is dragging out his sentence like all his Parisian teammates after the chaos of the Champions League, crossed the Atlantic this week to play with his team.
On the eve of the match against Venezuela, the Argentine daily "Olé" waved the somewhat crude and populist string of anti-France to encourage Messi.
Making its front page on the Parisian striker, Olé launches “Go Argentina!
Who does not jump is a Frenchman!
".
And the newspaper adds: “After the whistles at PSG, will it be the
Hit
tomorrow in the Bombonera?
(Editor's note: the Buenos Aires stadium where the Boca Juniors club usually plays and which will host the Argentina match on Friday).
Messi is preparing for the farewell to the country (before the 2022 World Cup) and we are preparing to applaud him.
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📰 #LaTapaDeOle l Jueves 24 de marzo pic.twitter.com/syTajGzyJp
— Diario Olé (@DiarioOle) March 24, 2022
A way also to give interest to a match without stake since Argentina is already qualified for the final phase in Qatar.
But in Argentina, the French whistles for Messi make a lot of talk.
A few days ago, the ex-Parisian, Marcelo Gallardo, coach of River Plate, was asked about the situation of his successor in the Argentina team.
Accustomed to escapades and excesses specific to the world of football, the former player of Monaco and… PSG regretted the attitude of the public but also did not forget to recall that in Argentina, too, where the “Pulga” is now considered a living God, Messi has not always been respected.
“In football, nothing attracts attention,” explained Gallardo.
We too mistreated Messi, let's not play the patriots now, huh… I heard a lot of people being indignant, but we mistreated him before he announced his international retirement.
Afterwards, he changed his mind and, thank God, he came back, but let's be consistent and remember things
.
Then, I understand that elsewhere, football is lived differently, and that they disapprove of a player in this way [while whistling].
I obviously don't agree at all but in football these kinds of facts do not surprise me.
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