Lionel Messi had seen enough with 10 minutes to go of Argentina’s humiliating 6-1 defeat to Spain.
The superstar was rested for Wednesday’s match (NZ time), forced to watch on from the stands at the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium in Madrid as Spain dealt Argentina a humbling loss in the last match before their coaches pick their squads for this June’s World Cup.
Real Madrid midfielder Isco scored his first career hat-trick for his country and it was not long after his last goal, and Spain’s sixth, in the 74th minute that Messi left his seat and walked into the bowels of the stadium, rather than witnessing the end of one of Argentina’s alltime worst performances.
Argentina coach Jorge Sampaoli now faces doubts about Argentina’s chances of finally winning a World Cup title with Messi after seeing his supporting cast so thoroughly outclassed.
Diego Costa, Thiago Alcantara and half-time substitute Iago Aspas also scored for Spain. Nicolas Otamendi scored Argentina’s goal that made it 2-1 at halftime.
A minor leg problem kept Messi from playing in Argentina’s 2-0 win over Italy in Manchester, England, on Friday.
Sampaoli had said on Monday that his star player was better and that he expected him to play against Spain, but he left him out of his squad come match time.
Sampaoli said after the match that if the game had not been a friendly Messi would have played.
“Leo had been training well with us this week but he was still bothered by his leg, and after the last practice session he felt that fatigue,” Sampaoli said.
“Obviously, we noticed his absence.”
Source:Stuff
