Superstar Lionel Messi admitted that he suddenly felt afraid of getting injured again after missing 5 matches for Inter Miami.
Recently, Argentina defeated Paraguay 1-0 in the 2026 World Cup qualifying match, South America region. This victory brought Albiceleste to the top of the rankings with 9 points, 2 points more than second-place team Brazil.
In this match, Lionel Messi did not start. He only entered the field in the 53rd minute to replace Julian Alvarez. The Inter Miami striker also did not leave much of an impression in the remaining time.
In the post-match press conference, Messi admitted that he was afraid of getting injured when he entered the field in this match: “At first, I was a little scared, I didn’t completely relax myself. Luckily, I eventually got better. I can increase the intensity and duration of my workouts. I haven’t competed in a while. Hopefully I can exercise enough to get back to how I feel today. It’s great that Argentina won all 3 points.
In the match against Bolivia, I had to sit out. The whole team went through difficult moments in La Paz. And in the last match, Argentina played very well in the first half against Paraguay, then I got on the field and felt good.”
At this time, the 2022 World Cup champion is aware that injuries are his obsession as he gets older. After returning from the national team camp in September, Messi had to miss five matches for Inter Miami because of a scar tissue injury in his right hamstring. He only returned in the most recent match against Cincinnati in MLS (entering the field in the 35th minute).
Messi and Inter Miami will end their MLS campaign after the match against Charlotte on October 22. David Beckham’s team will be out of action until February because they did not make it to the MLS championship play-off round.
