A former Argentina international says the Barcelona star”spoils” his group.
Former Argentina goalkeeper Hugo Gatti has promised that Barcelona’s Lionel Messi is no longer phenomenal and that he”spoils” his group due to the slow tempo he plays.
The two-time Copa Libertadores winner with Boca Juniors has promised the 32-year-old”walks on the pitch now” than he used to.
Despite this proposal, Messi has scored 23 goals in 30 appearances for the Catalans this year, laying on another 16.
That hasn’t spared him from Gatti, however.
“I do not care if they criticise me Argentina,” he advised El Chiringuito.
“I am quite Argentinian and Messi is a phenomenon, but he is not a phenomenon now
“They treat him wrong since they dig him up and big up him and treat him wrong. He gets used to it and walks on the pitch. He needs to be better.
“Cristiano [Ronaldo] and him are the two greatest.
“Messi needs to be better, he has used to playing in a weary rhythm, walking and the ones that know football think the same. Take off, kid. You must play well.
“When there is a player like Messi, like it was with Maradona and Pele, and his teammates always give the ball to him to win the match.
“They spoil the group and they do not put everything they have into it.
“The team get used to giving him the ball and not anybody else.”
Messi is considered as one of the outstanding players of all time, having won the Ballon d’Or on six different events, such as the 2019 award.
He holds a raft of documents, having netted more frequently than another other participant in Barcelona colors, with 437 league goals scored in 473 appearances.
Although Messi wasn’t on goal in last weekend’s Clasico against Real Madrid, a suit his side lost 2-0, he’d scored four against Eibar per week before to help his side to the peak of the table — a position they lost at the Bernabeu.
On Saturday they tackle Real Sociedad in Camp Nou, with a triumph placing them into the summit of the standings for at least 24 hours as Madrid don’t perform Real Betis until Sunday.
