Chile gave us a ´difficult´ time, admits Messi

Lionel Messi said that Chile caused Argentina difficulties in Tuesday night’s CONMEBOL World Cup qualifier in Santiago.

Goals from the Ballon d’Or holder and Gonzalo Higuain helped Alejandro Sabella’s men to a hard-fought 2-1 win as the Albiceleste continued their quest for a place in World Cup 2014.

Felipe Gutierrez’s 90th-minute strike proved to be too little, too late, but Chile can take consolation from the Barcelona star’s admission that it wasn’t an easy game for Argentina.

“We knew it would be a difficult game because Chile needed to win,” Messi said after the match.

“We scored when we had to, but then we lost control and suffered a bit. The important thing is that we got all three points in a very tough place, though.

“These World Cup Qualifiers are very tight and very difficult. We are thrilled because we defeated two great teams like Uruguay and Chile. We will come back in March and try to keep winning.”

The 25-year-old then went on to voice his delight with the way his career has panned out so far.

“I have experienced so many beautiful things in these first eight years. I also had to suffer sometimes, but those things helped me grow and I’ve learned how to deal with difficulties,” he said.

“Now I’m very happy with everything that’s happening to me and I’m very happy to see our national team winning.”

Meanwhile, Manchester City star Sergio Aguero was equally pleased with Argentina’s victory.

“We knew it wasn’t easy to come here but we’re happy because we were able to make the difference when we had our chances and we won it,” he said.

Argentina sit top of the table in their qualifying group with 20 points from nine games.