Gonzalo Higuaín retires from football
Gonzalo Higuaín has retired from football after being eliminated by New York City in the MLS playoffs. Following the news, multiple football figures expressed their thoughts on the 'Pipita' and his career, which is marked by success with clubs but failure with his national team.
Lionel Messi has revealed in an interview with Direct TV Sports his feelings about his former teammate's retirement and has also expressed his support in the face of past criticism.
"It was terrible because he had a spectacular career. What he did was very difficult, playing in the best teams in the world, always performing, scoring goals, winning championships. But he was marked by the Copa America and the World Cup. Many players in that group went through the same thing," Messi told journalist Pablo Giralt.
At another moment, Messi explained that if perhaps 'Pipa' had won the 2021 Copa Argentina, the bad memories regarding his performances with the national team would have been erased. It is worth remembering that Higuaín participated in 3 Copa America tournaments and couldn't make a difference for Argentina in any of them. He reached the finals in the 2015 edition in Chile and the 2016 edition in the USA.
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"I think that if he had won the Copa America, people would have recognized him more, but at that time it was very tough. We had reached those finals, which was not a small thing. People were very unfair. He was mistreated by a sector of the press and that's what makes people get infected and consume all that," Messi concluded regarding Higuaín.