In an interview with TyCSports.com, Lionel MESSI revealed that he never would have chosen to play for Spain and also discusses the controversy surroung the Argentina/Costa Rica match.
"I would never have chosen to play for Spain because I am Argentinian. It is true that Spain has treated me very well."
"Let's not forget that I have spent almost as many years living in Barcelona as in Argentina and that leaves you with divided loyalties, but it doesn't change your true colours".
When asked about not playing against Costa Rica, MESSI had this to say:
"I want to be clear that there was no pressure of any kind from Barcelona [not to play]. I couldn't play as I had pulled a leg muscle and I don't understand the reason for such a storm."
Despite some people constantly questioning MESSI's loyalty towards Argentina, I think it's good that he "set the record straight'. Spain tried to convince MESSI to play for their youth side, but he declined and decided to play for Argentina. Even at that, Spain once again tried to get him to play for them, this time for their senior team... once again, MESSI said no.
In 2008, when Barcelona tried to deny MESSI to go to the Olympics, he ended up going and won the gold medal. And now he comes up with these statements which frankly, puts a smile to my face. MESSI's reputation with the National Team has not always been great and some fans have always tried to label him as a Catalan or Spaniard, even though he has over 50 caps for Argentina and won titles with the youth teams.