Argentina is a powerhouse in soccer.

Messi is Messi and Messi is Barcelona.

You cannot give the ball to Messi all the time.

Messi owes something to Argentina. He knows that.

Messi is a human being and we have to respect him.

Machines can break down under pressure. But so can humans.

For any tournament to succeed, you need the big guns to fire.

What Guardiola has done as coach of Barcelona is really spectacular.

I am lucky because I can feel at home anywhere, I don't get homesick.

A World Cup without Argentina and without Messi would be a catastrophe.

I couldn't be bothered with the whole shaving-every-couple-of-days routine.

If you ask me who I would have liked to play with, I would say that with Messi.

Maradona doesn't play soccer anymore, he coaches it. He needs to remember that.

I am just one of many who have played their part in Argentina's football history.

I have stopped being a Valencia ambassador through contract but not through the heart.

I wasn't a No. 9, as everyone believes today. Every time I played as a No. 9, I failed.

Argentina have always produced very good players, and mine is just another name on the list.

I love being able to play myself if I fancy, and take myself off as soon as I've had enough.

It is very difficult to play beside Messi and whoever understands it any other way is a fool.

All teams starting the season should aim to be as high as possible and Valencia are no exception.

Every time the national team took to the field, we had the confetti shower and the ticker-tape thing.

We cannot pretend that Messi will solve all the problems. He cannot carry everything on his shoulders.

I don't score many with my head but, as it happened, that's how I netted my first-ever World Cup goal.

Lautaro, for a couple of years now, has proven to be a great No.9. He's shown it at Inter and Argentina.

This is one thing every coach can take from Menotti. If you win the World Cup, no one can criticize you.

Maradona is Maradona, that's indisputable, but he doesn't play anymore. He stopped playing a long time ago.

Clearly finals are one-off games and they always depend on starting well in order to impose yourself on the game.

What's the problem that people have here in Spain with Maradona and Messi? They spend the whole day comparing them.

Suarez and Neymar play the way they play because of him. They are great players but they are made greater by Messi.

I will tell you another thing, we Argentines criticise Messi because we are specialists in criticising what is ours.

Argentina has never been able to convince itself that it can win in Brazil. For some reason we have always struggled.

Now winning is more important and it trumps the way you achieve it. Unfortunately for soccer, the style doesn't matter so much.

It's impossible to replace him. You will not find another Messi, but you can train a team without having the best in the world.

People are saying: 'the Argentina uniform should not be stained.' Forget about it. The Argentina uniform is already pretty stained.

When Diego won the World Cup in 1986, perhaps he had the luck that Messi has not had. Diego had very good teammates and things went well.

The game was different then, when I used to play. The ball ran more than the players and to some extent there was greater technical skill.

On the field Icardi always does a good job, what he does off it, I don't care at all. What I do care is what he does for my team on the pitch.

Missing the 1978 World Cup made Maradona an even better player, as he showed on the following year at the Youth World Cup, and he never looked back.

The only ones who would be happy if Messi doesn't go to the World Cup would be Maradona fans because, that way, they can keep saying that he's the best.

I wasn't skilful at all... but I'm not saying I was that bad either! I used to take my chances. I was more of a midfielder and therefore a weird striker.

I think players of the national team are not entitled to make an opinion about who is making the team and who is not. At least in my days it was like that.

I'd love to work in Argentina but there aren't any possibilities to manage there. The managers always remain the same. They just swap clubs once in a while.

Dybala only lacks the belief that he is a great footballer. After his great experience at Palermo he had a great start with Juve and he did beautiful things.

It's not easy to carry forward the national team because you have a whole country behind you. But I would be willing to take charge of the Argentina national team.

I started every match knowing that this could be my day. It's like in life; you can have a bad business idea, but then you have a new one the next day and you just go for it.

Every time Maradona speaks it makes life difficult for everyone and there are those of us who don't agree with that, not when he talks about football, but rather about people.

In one game I'd have defenders completely wiping me out, but three days later I'd have my chance to get revenge. What had happened a few days earlier would never affect my confidence.

English football is a lot different to Spanish football but Soldado is an international for Spain, he is a player who has become accustomed to playing against great teams - and he has always scored goals.

You don't get called up to the national team because you tell good jokes, you are funny, you are handsome or because you are Messi's friend. You are called up because you have a role at your given club and you have personality.

You can put the players on the pitch but they always move and systems change. I think, though, that Messi has to be a special case and that the other nine outfield players should support him. But one player on his own is not going to win you the World Cup.

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