Lionel Messi States He Wasn't Trying to Deceive Anyone With His Argentina Retirement

Back in June 2016, footballer Lionel Messi announced his retirement from the Argentina National Team straight after Argentina’s second successive Copa America final defeat to Chile. In a recent interview with Avtex Sports, after scoring against Uruguay in a World Cup Qualifier, the forward insisted that he wasn’t trying to deceive anyone when he announced his retirement from international football back in July. Messi was only absent for two months before making his National Team return. He states:

“The truth is that I didn’t mean to cheat anyone when I announced my retirement and I wasn’t looking for anything. I said it because I felt it and at the time I thought it was really like that. I didn’t mean to lie or to cheat anything, but afterwards things change and at that moment I meant what I was saying. Losing the Copa America was a very hard blow, to be so close and to not achieve it after all the effort, all the sacrifice the group made. Chasing the dream and seeing it disappear again, to start again from zero, it was really hard from me. I believed the decision I was taking was forever, so I said it at that moment. But the truth is that I’m glad to be back here again.”