The best birthday gift would be to win the Copa America: Messi

Lionel Messi believes that Argentina must finish the job and defeat Chile to win the Copa America 2016 on Sunday.

On the day of his birthday, the Barça forward said it would be special to win a trophy that has so far eluded him. ‘It would be the best gift, obviously, not just for me but for this group [of players] - they deserve it,’ Messi began, ‘It’s important for me to not win it for personal reasons, but because I would love to win the Copa America with Argentina.

The Albiceleste have lost two consecutive finals in the last two years, first to Germany in the 2014 World Cup final and then to the Roja in the Copa America 2015 final - something Messi hasn’t forgotten easily.

‘I’ve said it before: forget what happened because, in the end, we couldn’t win [those games]. Think about this new opportunity, try to be champions, think about the final and not what’s in the past.

‘I already know Chile. While we’ve played two games before this final with [Juan] Pizzi as their coach, it’s going to be totally different.

‘It’s a team that presses well with players like [Arturo] Vidal, Alexis [Sanchez] and [Eduardo] Vargas. They’ve played together many years and are once again in a Copa America final.’

Unfortunately for Argentina, reaching Sunday’s final came with a heavy cost. During their 4-0 win over the United States on Tuesday, Ezequiel Lavezzi fractured his left elbow, Augusto Fernandez pulled his hamstring and Marcos Rojo picked up a thigh strain.

Messi, however, wasn’t in any mood to have his team’s spirit dampened and noted that the Albiceleste had already overcome other lows throughout the tournament.

‘It would be better for us and Tata [Martino] if we had our best players available, we were unlucky [against the US],’ he concluded, ‘But the squad has dealt with these problems before and the players who’ve come into the team have done well.

‘We’re aware of what we must do, play our game, have long periods of possession and manage time as we want - do what we’ve been doing so far.’