Now's the time to be more united than ever, show how truly strong we are — says Messi after big defeat

Lionel Messi, captain of the Argentine National Team, has commented on their defeat by Saudi Arabia in their first Group C game in the ongoing FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

Messi called for continuous support and unity, both within the team and from their fans in Argentina.

Speaking to the Argentine media after the game, the multiple FIFA World Best Player assured their fans, who are probably disappointed by the results, that the team will deliver and progress from the group stage.

"Now's the time to be more united than ever, to show how truly strong we are,” he stated.

“We're OK, obviously hurt by the result, very bitter. But people must trust that this team will not let them down and we are going to go for it in the next two games. We've played games of this nature before and we're going to perform well,” he added.

According to Messi the 2-1 defeat, “is a situation that this group of players has never been through, it's been a while since we suffered such a tough blow, we didn't expect to start like this.”

In a broadcast by Argentina-based television, Todo Noticias, Messi, who scored an early penalty goal in the 10th minute of the game, said the defeat was a result of a certain five-minute mistake by the Argentine players.

“In five minutes of mistakes that we made, we went 2-1 down and then it was really tough and we lost organization and started punting the ball,” said Messi.

“Obviously we have to win or win now. It's up to us to fix what we did wrong and get back to the basics of who we are," he added.

The five-time FIFA World Cup-appearing player again posited that they never underrated the second-lowest-ranked team in the tournament, emphasising that they knew the Saudis could pull surprises.

"We knew they were a team who would play if we let them...They did not surprise us, we knew they could do that."

The game that came off at the Lusail Stadium in Qatar saw an end to the South American giants' 36-match unbeaten run prior to the World Cup after three of their goals were considered offside by the VAR.

Messi’s team has to beat Mexico and Poland in their next group games to survive.