It is a commonly held belief that Carlos Tevez and Lionel Messi do not get along well with each other.
Tevez is understood to be unhappy with the way Messi disposed him from the throne of being one of the best Argentine strikers around. Until the emergence of Messi as a real force in football, Tevez seemed like the natural successor to Argentine greats like Hernan Crespo. Ever since Messi came into the international fold and started performing well for the national team, Tevez has slowly been ousted from the headlines. The former Manchester City striker has never been able to win back his place in the national team.
There does appear to be a possibility of the same in the upcoming years since Argentina have not been doing well at the international level. Even though they have reached the finals of major competitions like the World Cup and Copa America, they have choked at the final stage. This is likely to see the Argentine manager opt for a new group of players like Franco di Santo, who can provide a lot of steel to the team. Surprisingly, Tevez has now provided the backing for Messi after he witnessed a lot of criticism for the Barcelona superstar following the Copa America loss in the final against Chile.
"If I were Messi and had to listen to the criticism he has had, I'd have told Argentina to go to hell. He has to really love the Argentina shirt to keep coming back. You can criticise a player who didn't play well or who wasn't fit for a match but you can't say he doesn't step up or say awful things outside of football about him as they have, you just can't. As a journalist, you have to give a message each day. You can be in agreement or not, you can like a player or not like him,” said Tevez.