'No excuses,' says Lionel Messi after Argentina suffer crushing loss against Saudi Arabia

Lionel Messi and co suffered a shocking defeat against Saudi Arabia on Tuesday after the Middle Eastern country produced an incredible comeback to record one of the greatest-ever upsets in FIFA World Cup history. Even though Messi scored the opener in the 10th minute via the penalty spot, Saudi Arabia were left unfazed as they scored two early second-half goals. 

Saleh Alshehri scored the equalizer in the 48th minute before his teammate Salem Aldawsari scored a stunner five minutes later that turned out to be the winner. Following a horrific defeat against a side that is ranked 48 places below his team, Messi said that there were 'no excuses.'

'We will not let fans down': Messi after loss to Saudi Arabia

Seven-time Ballon d'Or winner Lionel Messi and the rest of the Argentina team were left in disbelief after they suffered a shocking 2-1 defeat against Saudi Arabia. Following the conclusion of the match, the 35-year-old admitted that he did not expect his side to begin the FIFA World Cup in this fashion. "We didn’t expect to start like this. We expected to get the three points that would have given us calmness," said Messi while speaking to Argentinian media.

Speaking of the defeat, Messi added, "There are no excuses. We are going to be more united than ever. This group is strong, and we have shown it. It is a situation that we haven't gone through in a long time. Now we have to show that this is a real group. It's a painful loss but we have to continue to trust ourselves."

The 35-year-old ended his remarks by stating that Argentina needed to put the setback behind them and that fans must not lose him just yet. "It’s up to us to fix what we did wrong and get back to the basics of who we are. We’re OK, obviously hurt by the result, and very bitter. But people must trust that this team will not let them down and we are going to go for it in the next two games. We’ve played games of this nature before and we’re going to perform well," concluded the Argentine captain.