Summer can’t go wrong for Lisandro Martínez. The 23-year-old defender of Ajax was allowed to go to the Copa América with Argentina and also managed to win the tournament. Opposite Football International Martínez tells, among other things, about his experiences with Lionel Messi, for whom winning the Copa was his first major country prize.
“Winning the Copa América with Argentina, also in Brazil, and then also by beating Brazil in the final, which is seen as a heroic act,” explains Martínez, who himself only played one game at the tournament, with a smile out. “The tournament, the euphoria and the reception in my own country made a big impression on me. All Argentinians were proud. We had done it, so beautifully.”
What made it extra special was that it was Messi’s first major international award. “That feeling was immediately present not only from the outside world, but also within ourselves,” says Martínez. “The realization dawned on us. Lionel Messi has played so many finals and won with Barcelona. Only that prize with Argentina was not there yet. Now there is, and that made a lot of sense. Messi means so much to Argentina. In all areas. And now “With a prize it has become a little bigger. We also knew what this meant for him and you noticed that after the final against Brazil. Everyone was happy for Argentina and everyone was happy for Messi.”
In training, Martínez fought the necessary duels with the brand new acquisition of Paris Saint-Germain. “That was certainly nice, but during the training sessions I always took it easy against him,” said the Ajax player, who is known for his fierceness and dueling power. “Haha, normally that is indeed not really a quality of mine, to take it easy”, Martínez laughs. “When I’m on the field, a button is turned. And I want to give everything I have in me. But it is different against Lionel Messi. Of course I gave everything, but in the duels I was calm.”
Martínez enjoyed his adventure on the Copa América. “It was a great experience. Of course I only played one game (against Bolivia, ed.), but every training session was also a great experience. We were a really homogeneous group and achieved a high level, also in training sessions. We traveled together for weeks and a really close bond was formed. The atmosphere was great, but we were also willing to work hard with each other. We lived from game to game, where the circumstances were of course different. Only in the final was there was a little audience present, we also played in empty stadiums, but we constantly felt the support of the people in our country, also because our base camp was just in Argentina.”