Victoria Granatto, recent world champion, got a bit carried away and questioned the importance her teammates placed on Lionel Messi's greeting after the world title of Las Leonas
The third world title of The Lionessesshould be reason enough for all eyes to be on a historic achievement. However, just a few days after the victory, one of the Lionesses got a bit carried away.
Victoria Granatto dismissed the greeting fromLionel Messiand argued that hockey is above football and the Argentine national team.
The scene occurred during an interview on ESPN Hockey, where the champions were reflecting on what happened during the tournament held in the Netherlands and Belgium. In the midst of the conversation, Magui Aicega highlighted the gesture made by the captain of the Argentine football team, who publicly congratulated the team after winning the title with a message in a post on the official Olympic Games account: “Congratulations champions!!!”.
What could be read as a simple acknowledgment from one of the leading figures in Argentine sports, however, ended up generating a strong reaction from Granatto. "It bothers me. All good with the football team, but everyone wanted Messi to greet us. Girls, it's Messi, I mean, it’s no big deal", questioned the player, making it clear that she considered the importance some teammates placed on the greeting to be excessive.
The criticism didn't stop there. Granatto tried to put into perspective the relevance of other names that are part of the history of The Lionesses and pointed out: "The important thing is that there’s Lucha (Luciana Aymar), there was Mechi (Mercedes Margalot), there was Ceci (Cecilia Rognoni), well you, Magui, I mean, our history is much bigger than theirs, I mean…”, Granatto stated.
The phrase, unfinished but sufficiently forceful, quickly went viral and opened a completely unnecessary controversy just days after a significant achievement for Argentine hockey.
