With the 2022 FIFA World Cup on the horizon, Argentina superstar Lionel Messi's former agent has revealed the player's worst match at the tournament, one that had him "waking up at night thinking about it for a year".
The Albiceleste are considered by many to be one of the favourites to win the eagerly-anticipated event in Qatar, with the team heading into the tournament placed third on the FIFA world rankings and on a 35-game unbeaten run.
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Italy currently hold the record for the longest unbeaten streak in international football after going without defeat in 37 games between October 2018 and October 2021, a milestone Argentina will be hoping to reach at the global showpiece in the Middle East.
To some extent, international trophies have been elusive for the South Americans. In 2021, they claimed their first trophy in 28 years when they beat Brazil in the final to win the Copa America, and had reached a handful of finals before that monumental occasion.
That triumph was also Messi's first major trophy win at senior level for his nation, having lost four finals prior to that: three Copa America finals and the 2014 World Cup decider in Brazil.
His former representative Fabian Soldini has now revealed that the fateful defeat to eventual winners Germany in Rio de Janeiro haunted the 35-year-old for quite some time afterwards.
"When I was at his house, after 10 years of not seeing him, he told me 'Fabi, I've been waking up at night thinking about the final in Brazil for a year. I can't sleep.'
"And I can tell you that. It goes round and round in his head," Soldini told Infobae.
"It's his love. His love is the national team.
"It is neither Barcelona nor Newell's.... His love is for Argentina.
"His great love is the national team."
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Messi has already confirmed that the upcoming edition of the tournament will be his fifth and last showing at the competition.
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