Messi made fans worried when he showed signs of discomfort in the final minutes of the recent victory over Inter Miami. And the risk of the 38-year-old superstar being absent from the Argentina national team training session in September is gradually emerging.
Messi only came on in the second half of the clash at Chase Stadium after returning from a muscle injury that had left him out of the previous two games. Despite not being in top form, the Argentine superstar made his mark immediately. In the 86th minute, he scored to make it 2-1, before sending in a delicate pass for Luis Suarez to seal a 3-1 victory for Inter Miami.
With this goal, Messi has scored 19 goals in MLS this season, reaching the milestone of 875 career goals after 1,116 professional matches, an unprecedented achievement in the history of world football.
However, the joy was quickly mixed with anxiety. The image of Messi touching his feet, appearing not to be completely comfortable in the final minutes raised questions about his true physical condition. In the context of Argentina preparing to enter the 2026 World Cup South American qualifying round against Venezuela and Ecuador in September , any sign of injury to the captain makes fans “hold their breath”.
Immediately after the match, coach Javier Mascherano reassured the public: “Messi is not at 100%. We will monitor more tomorrow. This is just a small problem, not too worrying. In the last three training sessions, he has made clear progress. The important thing is how Messi feels when he wakes up every day.” He also revealed more about his student’s determination: “Leo always wants to play, even wanted to play against Orlando. We have to remind him to save his energy, but Messi knows his body better than anyone.”
Losing their brightest star Lionel Messi promises to be a difficult challenge in the context of an increasingly dense match schedule, and also raises big questions about Messi’s ability to be physically fit enough to both contribute to the club and return to serve the national team.
It is not yet known whether Messi will recover in time to join Argentina in September. But at the moment, everything is still open and fans can only wait for official information from the medical team. If he does not recover in time, Argentina will likely lose an important spiritual leader in the upcoming two matches in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.
