Argenti coach praises Messi’s present playing level

Madrid, Feb 10 : Argenti football coach Edgardo Bauza, presently touring Europe, has praised the professiol level his team’s talisman Lionel Messi has reached in recent months.

After attending a training session of Atletico Madrid on Thursday, Bauza said Messi seems to be doing well as he led his club Fc Barcelo to reach the Cop del Rey fil, and emphasised the player’s steady development over the last two months, reports Efe.

Bauza’s tour included a visit to Italy to see the Argentine players of Juventus, Lazio and Inter Milan, and then went to Barcelo where he watched the second leg of the Copa del Rey semis between Atletico and Barcelo.

The coach highlighted the great equality of both teams in the game, which ended 1-1, as well as Messi’s assisting abilities that allowed Luis Suarez to score.

Regarding Messi’s renewal with Barcelo, Bauza declined to comment and said it is a persol matter.

He added achieving good results in the coming two World Cup qualifiers against Chile and Bolivia is a must for Argenti.

Bauza explained that accomplishing a decent outcome in these two matches will open the door to the 2018 World Cup fil in Russia.

Argenti is fifth in the South American group with 19 points after 12 rounds, one point behind third-placed Ecuador and fourth-placed Chile, which holds the last position to qualify to the 2018 World Cup.

Argenti will host the Chilean tiol team in Buenos Aires on March 23 and five days later will play against Bolivia, which occupies the penultimate place with seven points.

The Argentine coach added that the qualifiers are traditiolly very competitive in South America, while there are still two important games, not only for Argenti but also for the other teams.

He will head to England from Spain to visit Manchester City, which has Argentine players Sergio Aguero, Nicolas Otamendi, Pablo Zabaleta and goalkeeper Willy Caballero. IANS