Messi matches this team with the team that broke the dream in Brazil.

Lionel Messi spoke to his country's media, including Dario Ol from Paris, after Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni announced his 26-man squad for the World Cup in Qatar yesterday. The Argentine star spoke openly in this interview before the World Cup in Qatar.

He was asked whether he found any similarities with this team under Scaloni in the 2014 World Cup. Messi noted several similarities.

Argentina reached the finals of the 2014 World Cup, held in Brazil. Mario Gottsch's goal in extra time ended the Messi-Higuain dream with a 1-0 loss.

Messi sees the similarity of Scaloni's team with the unity and mental strength of that team: "I see a lot of similarities between this team and the 2014 World Cup team." That's how the team was built. The same is true of mental energy. And the way that team progressed until the end of the World Cup, this team also feels like that. It is very important. If you win the first match, that confidence will be useful for the rest of the World Cup.

This time around, there are a lot of expectations for Messi. Messi has already announced that the Qatar World Cup will be the last World Cup of his career. It will be understood at the end of the Qatar campaign whether he will withdraw from this decision or retire.

However, many Argentines have assumed that the 35-year-old Messi will play the last World Cup of his career in Qatar. As such, the expectations for him are very high this time. And the expectation that Argentina will host a third World Cup goes without saying.

Messi will be desperate to meet this expectation. However, Messi also pointed out the reality of a big event like the World Cup: "The pressure (of expectation) is there." For that, we have to be different from common people's thinking. Yes, we are dreaming. But besides this, we also know the reality. It's the World Cup. At any moment, a small mistake can end everything. We have to play with the same rhythm from the first to the last match. But this team plays all the matches like that. We are ready to fight, but as the Argentines believe, we will be champions from the first match—this will not be the case."