Lionel Messi said goodbye this Sunday to César Luis Menotti, who died at age 85. “He left us one of the great references of our football“wrote the historic scorer of the Argentine national team and current Inter Miami player.
“Condolences to his family and loved ones. RIP,” completed the Argentine captain’s Instagram story, which also consists of a photo of the two of them, together with Claudio Tapiapresident of the AFA, in a locker room on the premises that was once called “Julio Humberto Grondona” and now bears the name of the 10th champion in Qatar 2022.
Menotti, without an executive position, was very close to the selected one Argentine, as he had already been, but formally, Carlos Bilardo. The “Flaco” was key in the continuity of Lionel Scaloni at the head of the national team and, as if that were not enough, for Messi’s return to the blue and white, after the traumatic experience in Russia 2018.
“I have no doubt that Messi will be there, but I don’t want strengthen that idea of believing that if Messi comes we are saved. If you see the ’86 team, you will see that there was a team behind Maradona,” Menotti said in January 2019, half a year before the Copa América in which the Scaloneta finished third and, for many, the group that I would win the World Cup in 2022.
Two years later, Scaloni’s National Team would win the South American competition at the Maracaná, the Finalissima at Wembley and would touch the sky with Messi’s left foot in the Middle East.
“A football Master has left us, thank you for those endearing talks in which you left a mark on us, always skinny dear,” he wrote Scaloni minutes before Messi, also on Instagram.
The AFA and Scaloni confirmed the continuity of their relationship, so the native of Pujato will be the Argentine coach in the United States-Mexico-Canada 2026. The only one who has not yet defined whether he will be there is, precisely, Messi.
In July 2023, half a year after the Olympic return in Lusail, Menotti analyzed: Physically and due to his age, he can play calmly, because he leads a very healthy life, he trains well, he trains a lot… It is a boy who is very good. And he’s a kid, he’s 36 years old, right? I wish I was 36, you know how I play until I’m 40.”
And he added: “Technically and everything, he is impeccable. He has had no major injuries. He is a boy who has lived football with great respect for your health. Then we’ll have to see his state of mind, that’s why he also wants to enjoy his freedom a little more.”
