After having successfully answered the questions about whether he was better than Ronaldo or not the next big challenge for Messi is to make sure that Argentina qualify for the World Cup.
If Argentina fail to beat Colombia on Saturday they risk missing out on the World Cup altogether.
Maradona has made a few changes in the squad – Estudiantes captain Veron returns to the side to replace Juan Roman Riquelme.Juan Pablo Carrizo has been replaced by Mariano Andujar in goal.His thoughts on Messi…
“I want Messi to always be in the game, not drift out of it,” Maradona said in training this week. “I’ve spoken with him. When he’s in the game, it’s contagious. When he drifts out of the match, the teams loses its way.We can’t have Messi standing around doing nothing for five or six minutes.”
Argentine teammate Martin Demichelis came to Messi’s defense.
“Many question that he doesn’t seem to be the same with the national team as he is with Barcelona,” Demichelis said. “Obviously there are different factors, different players, different ways of playing.”
Maradona better get it right this time.He can’t always blame the altitude.