Following Argentina’s World Cup campaign, Leandro Paredes has returned to domestic competition with Boca Juniors and has begun addressing questions regarding Lionel Messi’s future with the national team.
While speaking in the mixed zone at La Bombonera after Boca’s 1-0 victory over O’Higgins in the South American Cup—a match in which he provided the assist for Miguel Merentiel’s winning goal—the midfielder shared new insights into Messi’s mindset leading into the World Cup final.
According to Paredes, Messi had internally decided that the final against Spain would serve as his international retirement match, despite the hopes of his teammates.
“It hurts, because we didn’t want that last match to arrive. He had made a decision, which was for that to be his last match with the Argentina national team. Hopefully not, hopefully he can keep playing,” Paredes remarked.
Lionel Messi and Leandro Paredes celebrate a goal for Argentina. (Getty Images)
The midfielder emphasized that the squad will fully support whatever path Messi chooses, noting that it is a strictly personal matter. “It’s going to be his decision. Whatever makes him happy will surely make us happy too,” he added.
Paredes on his own future with the national team
Paredes is also contemplating his own role within the national squad. At 32, the Boca midfielder admitted he has begun evaluating whether to continue at the international level after completing a remarkable cycle with the team.
“I think for many of us, it’s going to come down to thinking about whether to continue or not. It was a beautiful, spectacular process and we achieved important things. It’s going to be very difficult to maintain this level, for the group to keep functioning this way. You have to think it over, weigh a lot of things. Decisions like this have to be made calmly,” Paredes said.
When asked if he has reached a definitive conclusion, he remained non-committal. “I don’t know. Honestly… I don’t know. It’s a process. You have to digest it, think it over. You shouldn’t make hasty decisions. But it’s definitely something that needs to be talked about,” he concluded.