Argentina football legend Jorge Valdano has criticised Lionel Messin for a move made during the 2026 World Cup final, in which Argentina was defeated by Spain, losing the opportunity to become the first national to win two successive world titles after 64 years.
Messy had held an extraordinary tour of North America, where he had scored six goals only in the group phase, despite having celebrated his 39th birthday during the race.
The Argentinian striker also went on to score in the preliminary phase, implementing against Cape Green and Egypt to bring up eight goals to this world. For a short period, he also held the best goalist record in the history of the tournament before being passed by Kylian Mbarpe.
However, the finality against Spain proved difficult for champions in power. Argentinaers appeared increasingly frustrated during the match, while Enzo Fernandez was punished with red cards in extra regular minutes.
After the meeting ended, the Argentinan football players ‘ reaction caused controversy, as some turned their backs on Spain’s representative during the trophy delivery ceremony.
Messie was also involved in a controversial episode when he addressed Judge Slavko Vinci, demanding the punishment of Spanish defender Marc Cucurella. During a exchange between footballers, he had put his hand near his mouth for a moment.
The Argentinian captain attempted to seek the implementation of a new rule, set before the World’s beginning, which prevents footballers from covering their mouths during confrontations with opponents.
However, Cucurella’s case was different, since it was not a direct confrontation, and his gesture had not lasted long enough to hide what he was saying.
It is this action of Messi that has criticized Jorge Valdano, world champion with Argentina in 1986. In an interview for the newspaper El Paísé, he described the reaction of the Argentinan captain as a sign of despair.
It was a gesture of despair an admission of inferiority to a final where the difference between the two teams was much larger than we were used to seeing.
Valdano also spoke of Argentina’s physical and emotional state before the final, citing the difficulties the team had faced in the preliminary matches.
Emergency was suffering the physical and emotional effects of the previous fight against England.
He recalled that Argentina had played the semifinals 24 hours later that Spain, while on its way to the finals it had held some difficult matches, including two meetings that had gone on and a double-priced collapse of Egypt in the 1/8th phase of the final.
According to Valdanos, these factors contributed to the failure of the Argentinians to maintain the intensity shown in previous matches.
They lacked the energy and momentum they had shown up to that point, while Spain managed the match perfectly from every aspect tactical and moral, if we could give football an ethical dimension. Spain didn’t fall into any of the traps, Waldano finished.
The signal where the truth speaks before the news!
Source Layer: Signal