Argentina Coach Scaloni Says the Team Relies on Tired Barcelona Star Lionel Messi

• Lionel Messi and his teammates at the Argentine national team have qualified for the Copa America quarterfinals
• Argentina reached the last eight of the championship following their win over Paraguay in which Alejandro Gomez scored the goal
• Argentina coach Scaloni hailed his captain Lionel Messi claiming that the Barcelona star has been impressive

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Scaloni Lionel who is the head coach of the Argentine national senior men's team has stated clearly that Barcelona captain Lionel Messi looks tired as the team counts on him.

This statement comes after Argentina beat Paraguay 1-0 on Monday night, June 21, to reach the quarterfinals of the ongoing Copa America winning all their games in Group A.

Argentina started the encounter impressively looking for the early goal against Paraguay and they had to wait until the 10th minute before scoring through Alejandro Gomez who got nice assist from Angel Di Maria.

Five minutes later, Angel Di Maria delivered another superb pass which found Lionel Messi in the box, but the Barcelona star was unable to beat goalkeeper Anthony Silva.

Before the end of the first 45 minutes, Paraguay had a chance to restore parity against Argentina as Miguel Almiron fired a nice shot which was saved by Emiliano Martinez.

The first however ended with Argentina leading 1-0 and the match eventually ended with Lionel Messi and his teammates getting the three maximum points.

According to the report on GOAL and Mundo, Scaloni explained that it will be difficult for him not to play Lionel Messi considering his qualities.

"The reality is that Messi has been playing every game and it is very difficult not to count on him. Even though he is tired, he continues to make the difference.

"Today we made several changes and, despite that, we were able to take all three points."

Earlier, Legit.ng had reported how Barcelona captain Lionel Messi on Thursday, June 3, had a disappointing night while playing for the Argentina national team as his goal was unable to give his nation a win over Chile.

Lionel Messi and his teammates wanted to win their World Cup qualifying game against Chile at home and they did all their possible best to get the three points but failed.

Guillermo Maripan brought down Lautaro Martinez in the 21st minute and the referee had no choice than to blow a penalty which was scored by Lionel Messi in the 23rd minute.

The six-time Ballon d'Or winner fired a stunning shot in the 27th minute while looking for his second goal, but Chile goalie Claudio Bravo denied him from netting.

Source: Legit.ng