Argentina’s title drought is not about Messi alone: Crespo

The former Argentine great Crespo, the marquee player of Kolkata 5’s, opened up on a variety of topics including Argentina’s failure in the international arena. 

The national team is very competitive. If you watch the last three tournaments, we reached the finals, which is good. In the final, you lose or you win but you are competitive. Messi played very well. He is undoubtedly the best player in the world. He is unlucky, but it’s not about Messi. It’s about the last 23 years that the national team has never won. Yes, we have an Olympic medal but we lost many finals. That doesn’t mean we are not competitive. Maybe, the next time, we will cross the line. 

The world has changed now. For me to come to Europe, I had to demonstrate my value in Argentina. I came to Europe when I was 21-years-old but I won a lot of titles back home, the big games. Now it’s worse, because in six months after a footballer starts, there are big clubs ready to buy. Maybe, the footballers are not mature enough to go to Europe but we never know what is the right way. We just need to feel our passion and follow them. 

We are in the beginning of the competition. It’s beautiful to spend our time together. We are from different backgrounds but what is important is the way we gel in the dressing room. It’s too early for everybody. Maybe, we talk different languages but our language is to kick the ball, that is the same and that makes my job easy in the squad. 

The experience has been amazing. It’s the first time I am in India. Thank you for the nice welcome. It’s a different culture for me. It’s very nice and very exciting. I found a lot of enthusiastic people here.