Bravo reveals how he experienced Messi’s worst moments with Argentina at Barça
Claudio Bravo, former captain of the national team Chili and former partner of Lionel Messi in it FC Barcelonarecalled his relationship with the Argentine star after the announcement of his retirement from the Albiceleste and acknowledged that at the time “did not measure” its significance.
“One didn’t realize how big he has become in football, in the almost three years we were together or the conversations we had,” Bravo said in the ESPN F90 Chile sports program of which he is a panelist.
The goalkeeper highlighted the personality of his former teammate and added: “Unlike others who do not have the importance of a Messi, you find players who are very difficult to reach and talk to, and with him it is the opposite.”
The also former goalkeeper of Real Sociedad and Betis He coincided with the Argentine ’10’ in the Barça team between 2014 and 2016, a period in which Chile and Argentina played two finals of the Copa América, won by La Roja as host in 2015 and the Centennial in the United States in 2016.
I had to have him in the locker room when they were most criticized, when they lost to us on two occasions.
Former Chile and Barça goalkeeper
“I had to have him in the locker room when they were most criticized, when they lost to us on two occasions. “It was the most questioned moment in relation to the Argentine team and its players, I have that very fresh memory of when he resigned after the penalties,” explained the former Chilean goalkeeper.
Bravo referred to the episode in which Messi announced his retirement from Argentina in 2016, after having lost his third consecutive final by also losing to Germany that of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
““I have that very fresh memory of when he resigns after the penalty shootout, where our celebration is,” He detailed what happened after the Copa América final 10 years ago.
“There you find the greatness of this player in absolute solitude. “I found him alone that day on the bench seats, absolutely alone, we are talking about the best player in the history of this sport,” he recalled.
The former player who emerged from the Chilean Colo Coloand also had a career in Manchester City Before his retirement in 2024, he reflected on the moment Messi experienced: “There you see both sides: you see the side of success and the side of defeat.”
Reflection on football
“In success, forget the number of people that can surround you and the good things, but I knew the negative part that football has in relation to idols”Bravo closed.
Messi announced his retirement on Monday, less than two months after the defeat against Spain in the final of the 2026 World Cup, through a message published on his Instagram social network profile where he wrote: “I’ve emptied myself, I have no more to give and there are very big guys coming back who deserve to be there.”
The former Barcelona player played more than 200 games with the albiceleste shirt, in which he scored 125 goals and registered 68 assists and was world champion in Qatar 2022 and two-time champion of the Copa América (2021 and 2024).
