The Argentine fans must be shivering right now, after their main man Lionel Messi went missing from his team’s latest training session ahead of the FIFA World Cup final against France. Messi was literally on fire for his team in the semifinals, ripping apart Croatia’s defense and leading his team into their second World Cup final under his leadership. The ‘La Pulga’ scored one from the penalty spot, kickstarted the counter-attack for the second and dazzled away from the highly rated centre-back Josko Gvardiol to serve in a plate, a second goal of the night for Julian Alvarez.
However, fans were still worried for the PSG superstar who apparently seemed a bit ‘tired’ against Croatia. Messi was seen constantly holding his hamstring area throughout tie, despite delivering another man-of-the-match performance. That certainly gave a panic attack to the La Albiceleste fans in the Lusail Stadium who were in an absolute mood of celebration watching their nation go through to a second World Cup final in 8 years.
Lionel Messi misses first training session of preparation for France showdown
Lionel Messi has been in the form of his life for the Argentina national team, ever since winning his first international trophy last year in the Copa America. He swooped in the top-scorer as well as the best player’s award at the South American continental tournament with a brilliant 4 goals and 5 assists in 7 games. He is close to emulating the same at the ongoing Qatar World Cup.
The former Barcelona player has already netted a staggering 5 goals which has him sitting atop of the scoring charts alongside club mate Kylian Mbappe. Add to it, Messi also has 3 assists to his name, tied with Antoine Griezmann, Harry Kane and Bruno Fernandes. But if he succeeds in crowing Argentina as the World Champions on Sunday with a goal or an assist or even both, like he has done in three games already, there’s no doubt he is taking home all three trophies of the World Cup, top scorer and best player.
But ahead of the final on Sunday, Lionel Messi wasn’t spotted in the Argentina training as did his other teammates. While it acted as fuel to the fire of the rumours that the 35-year-old is a doubt for the final given his hamstring struggles, the complete story suggests otherwise. Argentina manager Lionel Scaloni has given the eleven starting players from the semifinal clash against Croatia an extra day off to recover from the fatigue.
Messi has started his side’s each of the six games at the tournament so far and played every minute. He is certainly the one who needs a good amount of rest ahead of the final showdown, if Argentina are to be helped by his magical powers on Sunday to lift only their third World Cup title. The news is a relief for the fans who would have thought their captain missed the training pertaining to injury issues.
Argentina meanwhile will also welcome back key players Marcus Acuna and Gonzalo Montiel from suspensions for the final, whereas Angel di Maria, who has had injury issues of recently too seems fit to start the final. The winger missed his country’s 2014 final against Germany after being in hot-form, which left one big void in Messi’s team. He now aims to be fully fit for his side’s final against France, which will also be his last chance at glory.