Lionel Messi Labelled 'Lazy' by Grandfather Antonio Cuccitini After Copa America

It’s often said those most critical of us are those that are closest to us, and it seems as though that’s the case for Lionel Messi, too, with his own grandfather branding his latter performances in the Copa America for Argentina as “lazy.”  

“Some of him was there,” said Antonio Cuccitini, Messi's grandfather, to Radio Casilda (via Enis Koylu of Goal.com). “Triumphs are the greatest things there are. But the last three games he was bad. He was lazy.”

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Messi has received some criticism for the manner in which he performed during the Copa America despite skippering Argentina to the final. The Barcelona star only scored one goal in the competition, a penalty in the tournament opener, and he failed to reach the heights he showcases for his club side with consistency.

But you cannot help but feel Cuccitini is being a little harsh on his grandson. After all, as we can see here, courtesy of WhoScored.com, Messi’s performance in the 6-1 win over Paraguay in the semi-final was one of the finest individual performances we’ve seen in the latter stages of a major tournament:

Indeed, Messi has long struggled to replicate his best for the national side, but if he doesn’t get enough of the ball, doesn’t have team-mates to link up with and isn’t allowed into dangerous positions, his mercurial genius cannot affect games.

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But even stationed on the right flank in a team that was often lacking balance in this tournament, he was still able to have a major say on the majority of matches. Jonathan Wilson of the Guardian was bewitched by his displays in Albiceleste colours:

While Messi can seem to meander through games at times, it’s this recuperation which allows him to burst into life when he does pick up the ball. Sadly for Argentina, they were unable to get their talismanic skipper into threatening positions often enough for him to steer the Albiceleste to an overdue piece of silverware.

Argentina haven’t won a trophy for 22 years now, so to point the finger at one of the nation’s greatest-ever players seems peculiar; there are clearly some underlying issues in the nation's setup. Messi has helped the Albiceleste to two finals in two years and has played a starring role in each occasion. It begs the question: If he is lazy, what does that make the rest of his team-mates?