Batigol 'unhappy' with Messi mark

JAIPUR: Gabriel Batistuta is ‘unhappy’ with the fact that Lionel Messi has equalled him as Argentina’s all-time leading scorer, according to his agent Sergio Espindola.
Messi scored Argentina’s fourth goal against Venezuela in the Copa America Centenario, which took his tally to 54 for the national team thus matching the record set by Batistuta.
Batigol, as Batistuta is famously nicknamed, had laid bare his feelings previously also about not being happy at the prospect of losing his goal-scoring record to the Barcelona star.And it was no different when TOI contacted his agent to get a reaction on the Argentina captain finally catching up with the former Fiorentina striker.
“He is unhappy you know,” chuckled Espindola over phone on Sunday morning. “He enjoyed being the king of Argentina. Now he feels that is gone. He is obviously happy for the team and that they have Messi. But he is honest and cannot hide his emotions,” added the agent.
Messi, who started the game after playing a total of just 74 minutes in the three group stage matches, was at his virtuoso best scoring one and creating two as Argentina advanced to the semis with a comfortable 4-1 victory. La Albiceleste now take on hosts USA in a mouth-watering clash for the summit spot in Houston.
Batistuta, twice Copa America winner, has always maintained that Messi needs to translate his free-scoring form into winning silverware for the country. “I hope Messi’s goals serve as a platform for Argentina to win something,” he was quoted as saying by a website in April this year when Messi was four short of equalling him.
The five-time FIFA world player of the year is still to win a major trophy with Argentina after twice failing to cross the final hurdle, first in the 2014 World Cup where Argentina lost to Germany and then in last year’s Copa where Chile got the better of them.