Messi: It's a lie to say I run Argentina team
Lionel Messi has told ESPN that it makes him angry when people claim he makes the big decisions for the national team.
Messi, whose hat-trick took Argentina to the World Cup last month, has been accused of selecting coaches and influencing which players do and do not make the squad in the past.
The Barcelona forward, however, criticised the "ridiculous" comments which have been made about him.
"It makes me angry that people say so many things so easily," Messi told ESPN's Diego Monroig about his thoughts on the suggestion he runs the Argentina team.
"People say a lot of things without knowing. So, on one hand, it makes me angry. But, on the other hand, I am used to everything that they say.
"I am used to all the ridiculous things they say not just about me, but about this group [of players] from the last few years, so I can live with it."
In an interview with TyC Sports, Messi added that the people making the comments were showing a lack of respect, not just to him, but to his international teammates.
"It's a lie that I put my friends and the coaches I want in the national team, I'm just one more player in the team," the Barcelona forward said.
"To tell these great players -- [Angel] Di Maria, [Sergio] Aguero, [Gonzalo] Higuain and [Javier] Mascherano, who are worldwide figures -- that 'You play because you're Messi's friend' shows a lack of respect towards them and also towards me.
"It's a lie. I never choose players for the team or take them out. That's not who I am. I am here to add to the squad, nothing else."
Criticism of Argentina was present throughout their World Cup qualifying campaign as they left it late before booking their ticket to Russia next summer, courtesy of Messi's treble in the final group game against Ecuador.
With Messi now 30 and a number of other players in Jorge Sampaoli's squad also approaching the latter years of their career -- including Di Maria, Mascherano and Higuain -- it may prove the last chance for this group to win a World Cup.
Di Maria had admitted that he felt that failing to qualify for Russia would have meant the end of a number of international careers.
"It played with our heads that it took us so long to qualify," he told ESPN. "To not have made it to the World Cup would have meant the end of international football for a lot of us, myself included.
"That was impossible to imagine. I can't speak for others, but I think most thought the same thing. We needed to qualify to get our heads on straight. We had been doing everything to qualify and we couldn't get it done.
"But now that we have, we can work much better with the coaching staff. Psychologically, not being able to score goals was fatal for us [during qualifying]."
Source: espn.co.uk
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