‘His Return Was A 10’: How The Press In Argentina Reacted To Messi’s Brazil Comeback Win

Lionel Messi has finally lifted a trophy for Argentina’s senior national team.

Granted it was not one of major note such as the World Cup or the Copa America, where he has fallen three times at the last hurdle in Albiceleste colours in total. But it was still sweet for the Barcelona legend to get one over on old enemy Brazil in Riyadh by beating them 1-0 in the Superclasico with his converted penalty rebound.

The mid-November fixture represented his first international outing since being suspended by Conmebol earlier this summer. Angered after his side’s semi-final loss to hosts Brazil at the Copa America, he criticised the South American soccer federation and was hit with a fine and a ban.

Yesterday, though, he returned to exact some sort of revenge on his country’s worst footballing enemy which pleased the often critical media back home that also praised his overall contribution.

‘Obrigado, Messi,’ wrote Diego Macas in Olé - a teasing way to thank the captain in the Portuguese language spoken over the border.

‘A national Team that had shown an improvement during the Copa America, but that had been strengthened without its emblem [since the tournament], has now added the plus that it always has to have this Messi,’ began Macas on his ‘very good’ return.

In its editorial ‘Leo and the return of a 10’, the sports daily remarked that ‘Messi put on the Argentina national team shirt again after 132 days and was decisive’ while showing ‘that his commitment and his desire to defend the Argentine shirt are intact’.

As well as ‘decisive’, the Blaugrana idol ‘handed the victory’ to coach Scaloni’s outfit and ‘even collaborated in defense’. ‘Messi returned and his return was a 10,’ they concluded.

Over at La Nacion, an Andrés Eliceche think piece was titled ‘The National Team Has A Messi That Wants To Lock The Ball’. What Eliceche meant is that, hungry for silverware with Argentina, Messi is now playing with an ‘individual distinction that is expected of him and does not always appear with this shirt’. He continually wants the ball at his feet and ‘above all his stubbornness gave [Argentina fans] the best feeling of the night,’ Eliceche claimed.

‘Some data on his individual form showed a Messi who wants to play and also to ‘lock’ [the ball], [as] a more comprehensive one,’ Eliceche expanded further. ‘He was the Argentine who touched the ball the most times (54), the one who recovered it the most (5), the one who took the most shots (6), the one who committed the most fouls (5) and the one who was fouled (3), according to OPTA,’ highlighted Eliceche.

Elsewhere, in a separate article to review the game, Eliceche wrote that ‘this 1-0 victory against Brazil meant a confidence boost, now with Lionel Messi again at the front [of the action]’. ‘With Messi like this, the team project that Scaloni builds has room to grow,’ it was claimed.

And this is true. Currently in transition while attempting to blend prodigious promises such as Lautaro Martinez with the remnants of the failed Golden Generation, Argentina are, just like Barcelona, naked without their main star.

On Monday against Luis Suarez’s Uruguay, another auld enemy on the continent, Messi will look to lead his young teammates to a second consecutive victory in their last match for 2019.