Buenos Aires, March 7 (NA)—Néstor “Pipo” Gorosito came to the defense of Lionel Messi and sharply criticized the criticism the Argentina captain received for his meeting with Donald Trump at the White House, emphasizing that it was a logical situation unrelated to any political stance. “How am I not going to shake his hand? He became champion in the United States, he’s not going to go greet the president of Nicaragua. The kid has an extraordinary conduct,” Gorosito insisted. Gorosito also downplayed the symbolic weight some wanted to give to the scene and stated that after being champion in the U.S., it was natural for the Rosario native to participate in such events. “What is he supposed to do? It’s crazy that people are even talking about that,” expressed Gorosito, who also spoke out against the habit of politicizing any public gesture from the Rosario star. In that sense, the former footballer and coach maintained that Messi “has an extraordinary conduct” and stressed that his role is exclusively linked to sports. “Messi is a football player, there’s nothing strange about that. Whether the guy uses him or not is no longer up to him,” he concluded, in a staunch defense of the Argentine captain against a discussion he considered exaggerated and unnecessary. Finally, Pipo made it clear that any eventual political use of Messi’s image already completely exceeds the football player.
