Lionel Messi became emotional after scoring at the World Cup because his father, Jorge, is struggling with a serious health problem, according to an insider.
The 38-year-old defied his years to inspire Argentina to a vital victory in their first match in the competition.
There is a lot of pressure on the Inter Miami midfielder as a result of his country being the defending champions.
He scored three massive goals for Argentina to ensure their World Cup title defence got off to the perfect start.
However, there appeared to be other things on his mind during the match.
When he scored his first goal for Argentina in their 3-0 victory against Algeria, he started weeping on the pitch.
After the match, when asked why he was so emotional, he said: “No, honestly it’s something completely unrelated to sports. It’s been a few difficult days, complicated.”
He also added: “I had some difficult, complicated days, but I’m grateful to the entire delegation, to all my team-mates because they were always by my side, as always, giving me a lot of strength to be okay, and that’s all.”
Not long after, sports reporter Eduardo Feinmann revealed on one of the country’s most listened-to stations, Radio Mitre, that his father is unwell.
He said: “This has to do with his father. His father is not in good health. For quite some time now, several months, since last year.
“And this week there were some situations that slightly worsened his health, and Messi is going through this internal struggle. In other words, like any human being.”
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