Former Argentina captain Diego Maradona on Tuesday slammed the national team members for not doing enough to support captain Lionel Messi in tough times.
Clouds of doubt loom over Barcelona superstar’s future in Argentina colours. In August, he decided not to feature in the international friendlies and take a break from the national team, a move which was lauded by Maradona.
The 1986 World Cup winner reiterated his stance saying that Messi should not return to the national team. This time, however, he slammed fellow-teammates of Messi for not doing enough to support him during national team crisis.
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He went as far as calling everyone, except for Javier Mascherano, a ‘traitor’. He did not say nice things about Mascherano too. “I am extremely disappointed in Mascherano. I had a lot of expectations of him that he will protect Messi, but his silence, like everyone else’s is condemnable,” Maradona told Infobae.
He added that Messi should not return to the national team and take all blame for the national team’s failures. “I don’t want him to come back and take blame for all that happens.”
Messi, who was promoted to Barcelona’s club captain this season, faces stern test in Sevilla on Saturday. The match starts 11:45pm Pakistan Standard Time (PST).