‘We were thinking of hiring Messi’, Brazil President’s joke

The start of the two football powerhouses at the North American World Cup has been different. Argentina got off to a flying start with Lionel Messi’s hat-trick. Their arch-rivals, Brazil, had a shaky start after drawing with Morocco. In Geneva, Brazil President Lula da Silva faced questions on this issue. The 80-year-old Lula replied in a humorous tone.

In the 1-1 draw against Morocco, Vinicius Junior was Brazil’s saviour. No one else in the attack of the five-time world champions could score the winning goal for the team. On the other hand, captain Messi’s hat-trick helped Argentina thrash Algeria 3-0 and begin their title defence mission. When the topic of Messi came up, the Brazil President joked.

“I was thinking of signing a contract with Messi to play for Brazil!” Referring to Brazil’s World Cup start with a draw, Lula also mentioned the Spain vs Cape Verde match as an example. “Spain drew with Cape Verde, that was also a bad result.”

In the Algeria match, Messi equalled Miroslav Klose’s record of the highest 16 World Cup goals. He also reached the milestone of playing 200 matches for the national team. He became the first footballer to play in six World Cups. However, Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo and Mexico’s Guillermo Ochoa have also joined him in this record.