Lionel Messi Slams Argentinian Media; 'Friends and Family Suffer from the Lies'

Barcelona captain Lionel Messi has slammed the Argentinian media for the treatment he receives and says his "friends and family suffer from the lies." 

Messi made his first appearance for Argentina since the 2018 FIFA World Cup in a 3-1 friendly defeat to Venezuela over the international break but missed their subsequent match against Morocco due to injury.

He has now spoken about the criticism that has been directed his way in an interview with Club Octubre 94.7 FM:

The 31-year-old also talked in the same interview about how his son had even picked up on the criticism (h/t Goal).

"It is hard, my son is always looking on YouTube and saw a video. He asked me why in Argentina they want to kill me! But I like to keep going. I still want to win something with the national team. I am going to play all the important games. We already reached a World Cup final [in 2014], and this is not that easy."

Messi is widely regarded as one of the greatest players ever to grace the game and has recently taken the top three places when Barcelona asked fans to vote for the club's greatest-ever goal:

Despite winning multiple titles with Barcelona he is frequently blamed for Argentina's lack of success and failure to lift the World Cup since 1986.

La Albiceleste endured a difficult tournament in Russia in 2018. They struggled through the group stages and were then knocked out by eventual winners France.

Messi told Club Octubre 94.7 FM (h/t Roy Nemer at Mundo Albiceleste) why he opted to take a break from international football after the competition:

"After the World Cup, I didn't feel like talking. I wanted to be locked up and suffer on my own with my family. I wanted to get away from everything. Get away from the national team and look at things coldly. We've been mistreated for over a decade despite our achievements. This is despite not winning any trophies. We played three finals and to end the cycle this way. This generation had to deal with things that no other Argentina team had to deal with. So for people to say such crazy things and so many lies with a straight face, to be honest, I never saw that before."

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Messi's next chance of glory with Argentina is at the 2019 Copa America in Brazil.

Manager Lionel Scaloni has said he expects the Barcelona star to be in the squad for the tournament, per Reuters (h/t Football Italia).

The 31-year-old has tasted disappointment in the Copa America previously, losing in the final in 2007, 2015 and 2016.

Messi will be hoping to go one better this time around, as this summer's competition represents potentially one of his last chances to try and lift a trophy with the national team.