Benfica defender Nicolas Otamendi has issued an update over the injury of PSG super star Lionel Messi. The 35-year-old winger was subbed-off in the closing stages against the Portuguese side in the Champions League last week, despite netting a beautiful goal and with the scoreline locked at 1-1. While many slammed PSG manager Christophe Galtier for taking off the little magician, he later explained the reason being Messi sustaining a tight calf.
Lionel Messi has had a brilliant start to this new campaign with PSG, after an underwhelming last season. The talismanic Argentine has so far racked up 7 goals and 8 assists in just 12 games in all competitions. However, with just over a month left for the FIFA World Cup to kick-off in Qatar, Messi who will be leading his country in the tournament has suffered injury scare. Otamendi, who looks set to accompany the Argentina captain to Qatar has however provided a somewhat positive update on his knock.
Lionel Messi suffering from overplaying suggests Otamendi
After Lionel Messi had to miss a significant 11 games last season due to various injuries, he came back fitter than earlier this season. He hadn’t missed a game so far this season for PSG, before being completely left out of the squad by Galtier for the club’s weekend trip to Reims. The Les Parisians’ manager had also explained subbing-off the attacker against Benfica, as he told RMC Sport:
“He [Messi] gestured saying he wanted to be substituted. After making a sprint, he felt tired. He came off, because he felt tired and a fresh team mate was much better at that moment in the game.”
The ‘La Pulga’ has reportedly suffered a calf injury and hence came off against Benfica and gave the Reims game a miss. PSG were toothless in attack without Messi, as well as Neymar who was also not available for selection. However, the biggest scare was served to the Argentina fans who are gearing up to see their leader lead them into this year’s FIFA World Cup, which will also be his last as confirmed by himself. But Otamendi has calmed down everybody with a positive update, as the defender told reporters in his pre-match presser ahead of the PSG game this week:
“As a teammate, after the game [last week] I spoke to Messi to see how he was feeling, like I do with everyone. I’m not worried about his absence because we know how important he is for the Argentina national team. He had an overload because of his sequence of matches since the start of the season.”
As both Galtier and Otamendi mentioned, Messi sustained the knock as a result of his ‘over playing’ without some good amount of rest. However, the winger will now get the much needed rest as he is also set to miss the second leg against Benfica in the Champions League this week. Galtier in his pre-match press conference has revealed:
“Leo [Messi] felt a discomfort in his calf against Benfica [in the last leg]. We thought he would be able to participate in tomorrow’s game, but in the end it is still limited. He is much better, he is confident, but he still has an unpleasant feeling, so he prefers not to play tomorrow. For Marseille [next weekend], we will see the evolution all week, but it is very likely that he will be present.”
While it will be a huge miss for PSG, Argentina national coach Lionel Scaloni will be relieved to see his captain resting for almost a couple of weeks. Messi will be leading Argentina next month in Qatar as they kick-off their campaign against Saudi Arabia on November 22. The Copa America winner will be hoping to bring the world title home in his last ever appearance at the torunament.