Former Manchester United defender Gary Neville has slammed Argentina after the FIFA World Cup loss to Spain. He believes that they were subpar throughout the tournament, but the final was the worst performance.
Speaking to Sky Bet, Neville said that Lionel Messi bailed out the defending champions more often than not in the FIFA World Cup. He recalled their performances in the 2026 edition, saying that they were not good enough in any of the matches on their own and said:
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“I did say that my first comments were to admire them. But they played terribly, let’s be clear, they played poorly in the game. What I’d say is: if they stayed in the game, you’ve got to hand it to them. Well done to them, but they played like a bag of s***.”
“If it looks like s*** and it smells like s***, it’s s*** to be fair. What we watched in the final was a performance that was poor, and they’ve played poorly at times.”
Neville praised Argentina players for their competitiveness, but stated that they managed to make it to the final because of Messi and nothing else. He said:
“They’ve got massive chemistry and fierce competitiveness that gets them through, and they’ve got an incredible player up top who gets them over the line. Without him [Messi], I said this in the last tournament, they’re a team that would probably struggle to get to the same point.”
Lionel Messi finished the 2026 FIFA World Cup with eight goals and four assists, and played a key role in taking the 2022 winners to the final for the third time in four editions. Argentina failed to get a single shot on target in the final, while Spain had 20 shots, with 11 on target.
Argentina captain Lionel Messi sent message after FIFA World Cup loss
Lionel Messi posted on social media after the FIFA World Cup final, admitting that it was going to be tough to get over the loss. The Argentina captain hailed the fans and teammates and said:
“The pain is very great and it will be difficult to close this wound. But I also keep all the good things… With the matches that we turned around leaving everything and that will remain forever in the memory, with the support of an entire country that together with the work and effort of this group led us to be, once again, among the best in the world.”
Lionel Messi is yet to announce his decision on his international future after the FIFA World Cup defeat.
Edited by Sripad