Midfielder Rodrigo De Paul immediately went to Lionel Messi’s side after the 37-year-old superstar missed a penalty in the Copa America quarter-final between Argentina and Ecuador.
Although Argentina has won a ticket to the semi-finals of Copa America 2024, what fans remember most is probably the situation where superstar Lionel Messi failed to take a penalty kick in the penalty shootout against Ecuador.
As usual, Messi was the first to take the penalty kicks for Argentina, however, the Inter Miami star was perhaps overconfident and took a panelka shot into the middle of the goal. As a result, the ball went too hard and hit the crossbar and went out, much to the regret of La Albiceleste fans.
Immediately after the missed shot, Messi appeared disappointed and was consoled by the Ecuadorian goalkeeper . In addition, another name also did the same thing to El Pulga, that is teammate Rodrigo De Paul. The 30-year-old midfielder approached his senior and said: “We will win, we will win.”
However, Messi’s mistake was erased by goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez’s excellent saves of two consecutive shots from Ecuadorian players, along with the accuracy of Argentina’s players, and brought about the final victory.
In his post-match interview, Messi revealed that Martinez had joked about the quarter-final going to a penalty shootout. The former PSG man said: “Before the game, he joked about the possibility of a penalty shootout and said he would save them. When we get to this stage, we have the advantage.
After the Chile game, I was in pain and worried about injury, but in the last training session I felt better and felt that I could participate. I told Scaloni that I was fine and that I no longer felt any muscle discomfort. I was very angry because I believed that I would do it if I had the chance. I spoke to Dibu and Rulli first.”
Up to this point, Messi has not scored any goals at Copa America 2024, and El Pulga can do this in the semi-finals when Argentina only has to face one of two lower-rated teams, Venezuela and Canada.
