Messi to miss olympics in Rio

Lionel Messi will not chase a second Olympic gold
medal at the Rio de Janeiro Games in August,
Argentina coach Gerardo Martino said on Monday.
Martino added he did not want the Barcelona forward,
who will captain Argentina at the Centennial Copa
America in the United States in June, to suffer burnout
after a demanding season.
He can take three over-age players in his U23 squad
to the Rio Games but Messi, who helped Argentina
win their second Olympic title in Beijing in 2008, will
not be one of them.
“Messi won’t go to the Olympic Games because there
is a lot of competition for the national team this year,”
Martino said with World Cup qualifiers also in mind.
“We have the Copa America, the Olympic Games and
after that four rounds of the qualifiers,” he told Radio
La Red.
“The reality at Barcelona shows the season will be
long. I want to win very much but not at any price, nor
for throwing the players on to the pitch for them to die
there.”
Messi led Argentina to the 2014 World Cup final in Rio
where they lost 1-0 to Germany after extra time.
The 16-team Copa America, to celebrate 100 years of
the world’s oldest active international football
tournament, will be played from June 3-26 with the 10-
member nations of South America’s CONMEBOL and
six from rival region CONCACAF taking part.