Lionel Messi is undecided on retiring from international football after the 2022 World Cup in Qatar contrary to his initial assertion.
In an interview with Direct TV Sports, Messi seemed to retract his previous comments that the 2022 World Cup would be his last World Cup.
Messi shocked fans all over the World when he stated that he may no longer be spotted on the pitch with the Argentina national team, as he is set to retire.
However, in an interview with an Argentina media outfit, Direct Sports TV, the record Ballon d’Or winner retracted his comment.
Although his comment rules out retirement after the World Cup, he is still on the fence and undecided over his international future.
What did Lionel Messi said about his retirement ahead of the 2022 World Cup?
“Will I continue in Argentina after the World Cup? I feel very well physically at the moment”, Lionel Messi said. “Better than last year when I arrived at PSG. When I said a few days ago, that this is last World Cup, I did it it because of logical age issue. But after its over, we will see.”
Messi has played in four World Cup tournaments in his career. The 2022 World Cup in Qatar will be his fifth World Cup appearance.
He was extremely close to winning the tournament in 2014 in Brazil, when he led Argentina to the finals, but lost to Germany.
Lionel Messi has not been able to replicate his prolific goal-scoring form in the World Cup.
In his 19 appearances, he has scored only six goals. He was unable to score a single goal in the 2010 edition of the tournament, in which the team was knocked out in the quarterfinal.
In the 2006 and 2018 editions, Messi scored only one goal in the tournament. Messi is yet to record a goal after Round 16 of the tournament.
Messi to lead Argentina to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, set for a record appearance
Lionel Messi will lead the Argentina national team to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
PSG has five matches remaining before the kick-off of the tournament. Messi will reportedly feature in four of the remaining five matches.
He has currently made 989 appearances through out his football career. If he features in the next four matches for PSG, he will be heading to the World Cup with a total of 993 football appearances throughout his career.
If Argentina makes it to the final, Messi will be playing his 1000th game in his career. It will be a landmark achievement for the Argentine.
Argentina are in Group C and will open the 2022 World Cup campaign against Saudi Arabia on November 22 before taking on Mexico and Poland.
Argentina journalist overwhelmed by emotions interviewing Lionel Messi
While granting an interview to the Argentina journalist for Direct TV Sports, Messi made headlines when he appeared clueless and awkward before the tearful journalist.
The journalist, later identified as Bacon, was overwhelmed with emotions after he was privileged to interview the seven times Ballon d’Or winner.
Bacon broke down in tears while interviewing the former Barcelona legend star.
Lionel Messi was shocked by his reaction and did not know what to do as he leaned back on the sofa and started laughing.
As shown in the video, the journalist started the conversation with both of them sitting on a sofa and facing each other.
Just a few seconds into the conversation, the voice of the journalist was choked off by emotions.
He could not continue the conversation and held on for a while.
Messi then tapped him before he wiped off his years and continued with the interview.
