Lionel Messi regrets having missed his panenka during the penalty shootout ultimately won by Argentina against Ecuador in the quarter-finals of the Copa America on Thursday.
A failure without consequences, but not without bitterness. Lionel Messi, 37, missed his kick during the Copa America quarter-final shoot-out between Argentina and Ecuador on Thursday and that annoyed him a lot.
The former FC Barcelona star attempted a panenka to deceive the opposing goalkeeper, Alexander Dominguez, but the ball landed on the crossbar.
However, this did not prevent the Albiceleste from qualifying for the next round by winning the session thanks to two saves from Emiliano Martinez and Messi is still annoyed by his failure.
“I tried to touch the ball and it went high. A lot of anger,” he said after the match.
“I was convinced to shoot it like that. I had spoken with Dibu (Martínez), with (Gerónimo) Rulli (the two Argentine goalkeepers), I had taken a few penalties. I hadn’t practiced it, but I I talked about it with them I crossed several shots, and in fact the goalkeeper crossed, I tried to touch the ball and it went high.”, La Pulga explained.
Argentina will now face the winner of the Venezuela-Canada quarterfinal clash in the semi-finals and Messi is thankful to the penalty-saving specialist goalkeeper Martinez.
“I knew that Dibu is always there in these moments, he likes these moments, he becomes big. He is big when he is in this goal. It’s complicated, it’s very fast, we had a lot of confidence, Even before the match I was joking that if there were penalties we would be calm. It’s fortunate that when we get to this stage we have an advantage.”, the Inter Miami playmaker added.
Uncertain for a long time for the match due to a hamstring discomfort, Messi was finally picked to start and played the entire match.
He says he feels better and looks ahead to the semi-final of the competition.
“I felt good, I had no discomfort, nothing. There is always a little psychological fear of having an injury or discomfort, but at the muscular level I had nothing. He (coach Lionel Scaloni ) asked me if I was ready to play and I told him yes.”, Messi concluded.
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