Lionel Messi is gearing up to compete in another Copa América with Argentina, where the primary goal is to defend their title and reaffirm their dominance by lifting the trophy for the second consecutive time.

To achieve this, they must overcome rivals including the likes of Brazil and Uruguay, as the tournament in the United States gets underway on 20 June

A few days ago, Kylian Mbappé, the new Real Madrid signing, made it clear that he aims to win Euro 2024 with France, believing it to be a tougher competition than the World Cup.

“In my opinion, it’s a more difficult tournament than the World Cup. It becomes very, very challenging right from the group stage. We haven’t won it for 24 years, which is significant, but we’re not putting any extra pressure on ourselves. We’re focusing on preparing well for the group stage to perform strongly,” he stated to the media.

In response, Messi, in an exclusive interview with ESPN – where he also confirmed that Inter Miami would be his final club – addressed Mbappé’s comments.

“Everyone values the competition they play in. Obviously, the Euros are a very important tournament with the best teams, but it excludes Argentina, a three-time World Cup champion, Brazil, a five-time World Cup champion, and Uruguay, a two-time World Cup champion. There are many world champions left out, making it hard to claim it’s the toughest.

“The World Cup features the best teams, including all the world champions generally, and that’s why everyone wants to become World Champion,” he concluded.