On Thursday night in Buenos Aires, Argentina defeated Paraguay 1-0 to get to the World Cup. Lionel Messi came off the bench early in the second half.
Argentina vs Paraguay
Lionel Scaloni, the manager of Argentina, decided not to play Lionel Messi because of his injury to his thigh. Messi hasn’t started his third CONMEBOL qualification up to this point. Scaloni decided to start Lautaro Martinez of Inter Milan, Nicolas Otamendi of Porto, and Julian Alvarez of Manchester City.
Argentina took an early lead thanks to a spectacular goal from Nicholas Otamendi, and Messi quickly began expressing his excitement for the team’s achievement after the break.
Messi was a commanding presence for Argentina’s more than 40 minutes on the field, controlling traffic and helping Argentina defeat Paraguay. He gave his teammates a lot of opportunities. Messi attempted a free kick towards the post in the final seconds of the second half, but the home team could not extend their lead.
“I’m glad to be playing again,” remarked Messi. It’s challenging to come off the bench in any game but particularly challenging in a tough one. He continued, “The important thing is that we won, and we played well, especially in the first half.”
“I’ve only just arrived here after playing briefly for my team, Inter Miami CF. We talked and decided to wait until the end of the week to see how I felt. The plan is to add extra training sessions in the days ahead of my next game.
After an altercation in the 85th minute, Antonio Sanabria of Paraguay spit towards Messi when the Argentine star turned around.
“In actuality, I missed it. When I entered the locker room, my teammates informed me that he had spit on me, Messi said. “I don’t know who this guy is, and I don’t want to make a big deal out of it.”
With nine points after three games, the defending World Cup champions will try to continue their winning streak against Peru on October 17.
In the upcoming days, they would speak to discuss Messi’s condition, according to Scaloni. “There are two more training sessions to continue increasing his minutes. I’m not ruling anything out right now. He could start as an alternative or not play at all.
“But today, I think it was risky for him to play more minutes. We talked about it, and we agree, and I think it was the right decision.”
Argentina’s victory over Paraguay maintains their impressive run, with only one defeat in their last 50 games since losing to Brazil in the 2019 Copa America semi-final, leaving their rivals with a record of 108-25-13.
Liverpool midfielder Alex McAllister commented, “It’s always easy to put Messi in the starting line-up. It’s nice to see him coming back a little later and spending a few minutes with us. We’re happy with that.
“We played well, but we feel we could have scored more goals tonight, especially in the first half. In any case, it’s about the result and how we played.”
Scaloni’s Argentina had previously won 2-0 in the CONMEBOL qualifiers, with victories over Ecuador (1-0) and Bolivia (3-0) in September, but Messi didn’t play against Bolivia due to his thigh injury.
This injury forced Messi to withdraw from playing a part in Inter Miami’s playoff race as they suffered a 1-0 loss to FC Cincinnati last Saturday.
Messi’s inclusion in Argentina’s starting XI for Thursday’s qualifier had raised questions, but Scaloni said the decision to play Messi would ultimately be up to the player.
Messi led Miami to the club’s first trophy by winning the World Cup with a remarkable performance after joining in July. He scored 11 goals in 13 games played for the team. Miami went 8-1-4 when he played, but the team struggled, going 1-3-2 in matches he missed due to injury.”
Information from ESPN was used in this story.