Simeone's glowing tribute to Messi: 'He taught us to keep fighting'

Asked whether he would pick Messi or Maradona for a final, Simeone refuses to take the easy way out and instead offers a reflection on Messi: unbeatable numbers and a lesson in perseverance for Argentinians. Rubén Uría fully agrees.

At the press conference ahead of Alavés v Atlético, Diego Pablo Simeone was put on the spot with an awkward question: if he had to choose between Messi and Maradona to play in a final, who would he go for? Rubén Uría introduces it on his live stream as a rather tricky question and says up front that he liked the answer quite a lot.

Simeone starts by keeping his distance: he does not want to play the easy, crowd-pleasing game of picking one, however the question is framed. He recalls that he was lucky enough to play with Maradona, not with Messi, and that Argentinians are grateful to have had the two players he considers the greatest footballers in history.

Of Messi, he stresses that his numbers are unbeatable, but above all he values how he has grown as a person and as a sportsman, always with respect and good conduct, something he says is hard to sustain over a career of twenty or twenty-five years. As an Argentinian, he thanks him for the joy he has brought and, above all, for what he taught them: to fight and keep pushing when things are going badly. That, he says, is Messi's greatest value for Argentinians, or at least for him.

Rubén Uría picks up on the idea and sums it up in his own way: Messi taught them that when things are not working out, you have to rebel, grit your teeth and fight. And he believes that fits Messi's own journey with the national team.