Lionel Messi has once again expressed his frustration at how he and Barcelona finished the 2018/19 campaign.
Defeats to Liverpool and Valencia ended Barcelona's hopes of a historic treble, but Messi has the chance to lift silverware this summer with Argentina at the Copa America.
"I finished the season more tired and frustrated mentally than physically after what happened in the last 15 days, especially the Champions League exit," he told La Pulga.
"Physically I had to rest, I played less than I did in other years."
Messi has come close to winning a major tournament with Argentina without ever having done so as they lost two Copa America finals and one World Cup final.
"We're going into it with the same excitement and hunger as always, but the reality is that Argentina are going through a period of transition," Messi said.
"We are contenders, like before. We're not contenders from the start, unlike before, but we're going to try and win the Copa America."
Messi threatened to quit international football after Argentina's disappointing World Cup display in Russia last summer but, after a few months away, he has come back for more.
"I feel great," he said. "We have a group that has the hunger to do good things."
Edoo87
77
we all shocked & frustrated especially when you & Barca support Valverde
KLEMIN
54
Sometimes if haters make some comments one cannot keep it but to teach them. To say Messi can't perform without Xavi and Iniesta may not be accurate. It is Barca that cannot perform without players like them not Messi. Also Argentina does not perform well because it lacks support for the GOAT. At least, Messi still performed marvelously well this season but just that his efforts didn't get the needed complement. Barca's failure to win UCL does not mean Messi didn't perform. He is the top scorer for crying out loud. Xavi, Iniesta and Neymar, why didn't they help players in their respective teams to perform such wonders if really they were the men behind Messi's magics? CR7 didn't even get to UCL semis because De Ligt pocketed him. Is it because there was no Sergio Ramos, Benzema, and Gareth Bale there? no.
Moomin17
49
Let's me make some conclusions, firstly Barcelona is one of the top clubs in Europe, it has no shortage in money, plus it provides hefty wages and awesome facilities to the players and staff. So usually a lot of new signings happen at this time of the year and also during the winter, but unlike earlier days, this season we are seeing a contrast, till date there has been absolutely no signings this summer, all the targets are not so thrilled to join this legendary club, moreover even the chance of playing with the best player of all time does not motivate them, why is this happening, we have lost our key players like Alves, neymar, Puyol, xavi and Iniesta, and with them we have also lost our famous style of play, the tiki taka and attacking brand of play with the distinctive false 9 position, we have lost it all, once we had all 11 players from La Masia, today we are purchasing players like Boateng, Mina, etc., even we are looking for center backs from different clubs, in early days, we only purchased strikers or Wingers, nowadays we are buying a whole team from scratch, these players have no Barça ideology, because they are not brought up in the ACADEMY, they don't understand our values and objectives. Our La Masia academy and it's graduates are wasting away, and we are spending so much in non European players, yet we don't have the results,...... This club has lost its ideology, it has diverted from its style of play, it has become bureaucratic and political, there is nothing sporty or colorful about this club, this club no more mes que Un club,.... atlast I only have this 🔵🔴