Messi comes off bench as Argentina beat Paraguay qualifier

Lionel Messi got here off the bench early within the second half of Argentina’s 1-0 win over Paraguay in World Cup qualifying in Buenos Aires on Thursday night time.

Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni left Messi, who’s recovering from a leg damage, out of his beginning XI for its third CONMEBOL qualifier so far, beginning Porto winger Nico Gonzalez, Manchester City’s Julián Álvarez and Lautaro Martínez of Inter Milan on the high of his formation.

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Nicolas Otamendi opened the scoring early within the recreation with a pleasant volley to provide a dominant Argentina the lead at halftime, and Messi started to heat up shortly after the break to the delight of the house crowd at Monumental.

Messi seemed full of life throughout his 40-plus minutes on the sphere, directing site visitors and serving to Argentina pin Paraguay again whereas creating quite a few probabilities for his teammates. Messi hit the publish with a free kick in second-half stoppage time, however the hosts had been unable to increase the lead after he got here into the sport.

“I’m happy to be playing again … It is always difficult to enter from the bench and even more so in such a tight game,” Messi mentioned. “The important thing is that we won, and we played well, especially in the first half.

“I come right here after enjoying just a few minutes for my membership [Inter Miami CF]. We talked and deliberate to see how I really feel throughout the week. The concept is so as to add extra coaching classes within the following days forward of our subsequent recreation.”

In the 85th minute, Paraguay forward Antonio Sanabria appeared to spit at Messi after a discussion and when the Argentina star had his back turned.

“Truthfully, I did not see it. My teammates informed me within the locker room that he spat at me,” Messi said about the incident. “I do not know who this boy is and I do not need to make an enormous factor out of it.”

The defending World Cup champions have nine points from three matches and will look to keep the winning streak alive with an away match against Peru on Oct. 17.

“We will speak within the subsequent days to find out his situation,” Scaloni said about Messi. “He has two extra coaching classes to proceed including minutes on the pitch. At this level, I’m not ruling out any choice. He may play from the beginning, as a substitute or not enjoying in any respect.

“But today I think it was risky for him to get a lot of playing time. We talked about it and we agree on that and I think it was prudent.”

The victory over Paraguay continues a powerful streak for Argentina, which has only one loss in its previous 50 video games, outscoring opponents 108-25 and going 36-13-1 since dropping to Brazil within the 2019 Copa America semifinals.

“Obviously it is always easier to have [Messi in the starting lineup],” mentioned Liverpool midfielder Alexis Mac Allister. “It was nice to see him coming back after a while and be with us for some minutes. We are happy for him.

“We performed properly, however we really feel we may have scored extra objectives tonight, particularly within the first half. Anyway, pleased with the end result and the way we performed.”

Scaloni’s Argentina was 2-0 in CONMEBOL qualifying coming into the match, having overwhelmed Ecuador 1-0 and Bolívia 3-0 in September, however Messi didn’t play towards Bolivia after choosing up a leg damage within the first match.

That damage pressured Messi to overlook a piece of video games for Inter Miami as the staff missed the MLS Cup playoffs after a 1-0 loss to FC Cincinnati on Saturday.

The Argentine famous person’s participation in Thursday’s qualifier had been unsure within the run-up to the sport, with Scaloni saying Wednesday the choice to play Messi can be left solely as much as the participant.

Messi led Miami to the membership’s first trophy with a win within the inaugural Leagues Cup competitors between MLS and Liga MX sides in August, however his staff got here up brief within the last of the U.S. Open Cup — a recreation Messi missed as a consequence of his damage — and likewise fell in need of reaching the MLS postseason down the stretch.

The World Cup winner has been nothing in need of superb since becoming a member of Miami in July, scoring 11 objectives in 13 matches he performed for the staff. Miami went 8-1-4 when he performed, however solely 1-3-2 within the six matches he missed by damage.

Information from The Associated Press was used on this story.