Diego Maradona is not pleased by the performance of the Lionel Messi lead Argentina against Colombia which they lost 2-0 in their opening game of the Copa America.
Argentina last won a major tournament in 1993 and the current group of players have often been criticised for failing to produce on the biggest stage.
“It makes you think Tonga could beat us,” Maradona said.
“There’s a prestige that we built with kicks from blows. Remember when we all went out to Peru, when we broke the bus. What’s left of all that? What is the shirt?
“You’re offending the shirt, your mother’s ****.”
We are feeling bitter – Messi
Lionel Messi said his team was feeling bitter after Argentina lost their opening Copa America match 2-0 to Colombia despite dominating the second half.
Goals from Roger Martinez and Duvan Zapata in the final 20 minutes gave Colombia their first tournament victory over Argentina in 20 years as Messi’s hopes of finally landing a major international tournament after losing in four finals suffered a serious blow.
“We leave here feeling bitter,” said Messi following the Group B clash in Salvador.
“In the second half we had our chances.”
One of the best of those fell to the 31-year-old Barcelona icon but he headed wide after Colombia’s goalkeeper David Ospina got down quickly to push out a header from center-back Nicolas Otamendi.
But although Argentina dominated possession and created more chances in the second period, they rarely caused Ospina any serious concerns.
“We didn’t want to start this way, obviously, but now we have to lift our heads and keep going,” said the five-time Ballon d’Or winner, who lined up in an enviable forward trio with Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero and Angel Di Maria of Paris Saint-Germain.
“In the first half we retreated a little and were holding on, but in the second we really opened up,” said Messi, the Argentina captain.
“Whenever you lose it’s hard for us, we usually take it badly. Now we have to think about Paraguay.”
Argentina can still make the knock-out stages with games against Paraguay and guests Qatar, the Asian champions, to come.
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