In the round of 16 of the Club World Cup, Inter Miami was eliminated after losing 0-4 to Paris Saint - Germain. After the game, Messi, the captain of Inter Miami, accepted an interview with DSports.
Talking about the Match Result
Messi: "I'm very happy that we can participate in this Club World Cup and compete against teams from all over the world under our current conditions."
"Today, the team we played against, as I said before, has won the Champions League. The final score was 4 - 0 or 5 - 0; I can't remember exactly. There's no doubt that they are one of the best teams in the world, and what happened today was only natural."
"People didn't originally expect us to achieve what we have done. I saw a lot of comments saying that we couldn't get out of the group stage, and there were other negative voices, but we made it through, defeated a European team, and entered the knockout stage. For us, what's important is to participate in the competition. We are well aware of the gap in level between the teams, but we performed very well, and I'm very proud of my team."
Question: At 38 years old, you can still play the full 90 minutes, travel for matches, and keep training. Are you really an alien?
Messi: "Actually, we're very lucky in the Club World Cup as the travel schedule is relatively short. In Major League Soccer (MLS) and the Concacaf Champions League, we once had to travel 7 hours for a match, which is very physically draining. As you all know, my physical condition is not 100%, and I don't think I'll ever return to my peak (laughs). But I'll do my best to help, without making any excuses. We must keep moving forward, always."