Brazil failed to live up to the expectations as they crashed out of the World Cup following a defeat to Croatia in the quarterfinals.
Brazilian legend Pele’s daughter revealed her father wanted Lionel Messi to lift the World Cup. Argentina defeated France via a penalty shootout as Messi lifted his first World Cup title in Qatar. Pele passed away on 29th December, 2022 after suffering from a prolonged illness.
Brazil failed to live up to the expectations as they crashed out of the World Cup following a defeat to Croatia in the quarterfinals. Kely Nascimento insisted that after Brazil’s exit, her father supported Argentina as he had been rooting for the Latin American giants.
Pele’s daughter revealed her father wanted Messi to win the World Cup
She posted a selfie with Messi’s wife on Instagram and also went on to reveal she passed the message to Antonela Roccuzzo. Messi finished just behind Kylian Mbappe in the top scorer list and also was recently adjudged Best FIFA Men’s Player of the Year.
“Story time: This is the very pretty and kind Antonela Roccuzzo, Messi’s wife. I didn’t have the opportunity to meet Messi, so when I met her in the magical place of every party (the women’s restroom), I passed on a message to him through her,” Kely said.
“When Brazil lost to Croatia, my dad was already getting worse. Everyone wanted Brazil to win the World Cup for my dad, no one more than the selecao! But my dad knew better than most what soccer is like. And it was the possibility of any team being able to win that he would always say was what he loved about the beautiful game,” she further explained.
“After Brazil’s exit, everyone that came into his hospital room (all day, every day until the final!!!) would ask him: ‘and now Pele? Now who do you want to win? Surely not Argentina!!!’
“And he would say, “Yes Argentina! The trophy has to come back to South America and Messi has to win.”
“Everyone would feign (and sometimes not even feign) horror! What?! Argentina?!
“And he simply would say, “Yes, Messi wins.”‘
“He didn’t ever get to watch the final on television but he knew that Argentina had won and that Messi had lifted the trophy, and he was happy.
“Long live football.”
Source: www.republicworld.com
