Read for 2 minutes23 Jul 2026 11:41 AM IST
After a heartbreaking loss to Argentina in the final FIFA World Cup by SpainFootage from the dressing room and tunnel has revealed fiery half-time speeches from the South American team’s top star Lionel Messi and goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez.
Argentina played an aggressive game in the final, it was decided First side to not register a shot in 90 minutes In the FIFA World Cup finals. But thanks to Martinez’s 10 saves in regulation time, the defending champions managed to drag the game into extra time, where Ferran Torres put a dagger in their heart with a 106th-minute goal.
According to a report on TNT, the 33-year-old Martinez was heard giving his side at halftime in leaked videos from the dressing room where “cowards play backwards.” “Come on, play with your heart guys. Play with your heart, go forward, not back. We’re more excited than they are. Only cowards play back, only cowards play back, let’s go forward. Three passes and we’ll find out. Lion [Messi]Let’s do it backwards too. Come on, we’re sharper than ever. Let’s win, let’s win, let’s win.”
Messi’s message to the team, meanwhile, was simple: “Come on guys! Personality, people, personality! We’ve always had it, won’t we have it now? Personality to play, let’s play it, come on.”
The pep talk had little effect as the goalkeeper finished as the player with the most touches of the ball, making a total of 11 saves and 70 touches of the ball during the game. Other statistics from the first 90 minutes were equally damning: Spain had 15 shots in regulation time while Argentina had none. Spain took nine corners, Argentina just one.
After the defeat, Messi took to social media in an emotional post, writing: “The pain is great and this wound will take time to heal.”