BUENOS AIRES, Argentina: Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi says the worst possible draw for his Argentina side at next year’s World Cup would be Spain in the first round.
“The worst that could happen to us would be to draw Spain at the group stages,” Messi told TyC Sports Wednesday from Moscow where Argentina play Russia in a friendly on Saturday.
“I would prefer to avoid them, they’d be tough opponents.”
In the interview with the Argentinian television station, Messi named Brazil, Germany and France alongside Spain as favorites to take the World Cup crown in Russia.
“I think that at the moment, they’re the strongest teams who give the best impressions, those who are playing best, with the best individuals.”
Messi also broached Argentina’s last-gasp qualification for the World Cup finals, which the Barcelona star sealed with a hat-trick in a rare 3-1 away victory over Ecuador.
“I always believed we’d get there, but I thought we would have tied up qualification before the Ecuador game,” said Messi, reiterating that he would like to end his career in his Argentinian birthplace of Rosario.
“I would love to play for Newell’s Old Boys, in the stadium where I’ve seen so many matches,” he said.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen in the coming years, how I’m going to feel. I live from day to day, I’m not focused on the future.”
Messi keen to avoid Spain in World Cup
Messi keen to avoid Spain in World Cup
Sabalenka debuts engagement ring during Indian Wells win
- World number one sported the striking oval-cut diamond ring for the first time in competition after getting engaged to Georgios Frangulis late on Tuesday
INDIAN WELLS, California: Aryna Sabalenka’s performance in a 6-4 6-2 second-round win over Japan’s Himeno Sakatsume was not the only thing that dazzled at Indian Wells on Friday, with the world number one also showing off her shiny new engagement ring.
The 27-year-old sported the striking oval-cut diamond ring for the first time in competition after getting engaged to Georgios Frangulis late on Tuesday.
“It feels super comfortable and shiny,” she told reporters.
“We double-checked if there was a possibility to lose the diamond, and there was none. I was pretty confident wearing it, hoping it might even distract my opponent.”
Sabalenka, who has made the final of the WTA 1000 event twice in the last three years, said that while the proposal came as a complete surprise to her, the entire team was in on the engagement secret.
“I saw Georgios and I was crying half of the time, because I thought that I looked ugly, not prepared, and this is such a beautiful moment,” she said.
“I stopped everything, and I asked the videographer and the photographer to make sure that my face was not (in the pictures), just the ring, and side views and from the back, just so you guys wouldn’t be shocked by the way I looked.
“But it was a beautiful moment.”
Sabalenka was asked what she has learned about Frangulis, the CEO of global health-food brand OakBerry, and what he has learned about her since they began dating in 2024.
“What I have learned about him? He likes Oakberry a lot,” the four-times Grand Slam champion said. “What he has learned about me? That I’m crazy,” she added with a laugh.
