Lionel Messi had few minutes of play against Uruguay because the goal is Brazil, says the coach of Argentina

Lionel Scaloni, Argentina coach, said that the Albiceleste won this Friday against Uruguay “without playing well” and pointed out that Lionel Messi entered the game in the last 20 minutes to “catch up” for the game against Brazil next Tuesday.

“There are times when you can’t play well because the opponent plays and proposes a type of game, and you have to adapt,” said the Albiceleste coach at a press conference after the clash in Montevideo. “We adapt to the match that took place. That is a good sign as a team ”, he considered.

“Sometimes the rival prevents you from playing well,” he insisted.

“The key to the victory was the goal by Ángel (di María). Afterwards, they had (the ball) and they didn’t get it. There is the reality of everything. We were concrete and they weren’t ”.

For Scaloni, “the pressure from Uruguay is not surprising, because it has players to pressure.”

“They are in a compromised situation and they were even risking more. The two or three times that we came out of the pressure we had situations to be able to specify, but the rest were very intense, very reactive, and they did not let us circulate ”.

The coach also referred to the absence in the starting eleven of the captain of the national team, Lionel Messi, who entered the field with 76 minutes of play.

“We decided not to play because it came from inactivity and the game was going to be like the one that happened,” said Scaloni.

The plan was for him to enter the second half “so that he can pick up the pace, thinking about the game in Brazil.” (D)