Lionel Messi (37) revealed that he played a little injured on Tuesday during Argentina’s victory against Chile (1-0) in the Copa America. The Argentine star is also ill.
Argentina’s successful debut in the Copa America bears the signature of Lionel Messi. Although he did not score, the striker was involved in his team’s three goals against Canada (2-0) last week and against Chile (1-0) on Tuesday in Miami. The eight-time Ballon d’Or, who also hit the post, was however diminished by an injury to his right adductor against La Roja. In the 24th minute he stopped playing by holding his upper leg and turning, grimacing, towards his bench before being treated by the medical staff and finishing the match. He was spotted stretching on several occasions.
“Difficult to move freely”
“It bothers me a little, but I was able to finish the match,” confided the former PSG striker. “I hope it’s nothing serious. It was at the start of the first match. I didn’t feel any pinching but it became hard. It was difficult for me to move freely because of the discomfort Tomorrow (this Wednesday), I will see how we continue.”
In addition to physical discomfort, the former Barça star also played while ill. “I have been coming here for a few days with a sore throat, fever, maybe it took its toll on me today too,” explained La Pulga, who provided further details about his injury to his adductors: “It’s not something old or something I’ve been carrying around, just a contracture. We’ll see.”
One thing is certain, Lionel Scaloni will not take any risks with his star. The Argentine coach has already announced that he will rotate a lot for the last group match against Peru after having qualified for the quarter-finals. “We will see how the next few days go, how I recover,” concludes Messi. “Today we took an important step in qualifying, but there are a lot of games, a lot of travel, we will start to think about what is to come.”
