Lionel Messi will undergo studies for the injury he suffered in the match against Chile

The Argentine National Team beat Chile 1-0, for the second date of Group A, and qualified for the quarterfinals of the Copa América in the United States 2024. However, beyond the joy caused by this second consecutive victory in the highest continental tournament, there was concern about the discomfort in the adductor with which the match ended. Lionel Messi.

“It bothers me a little, but I was able to finish playing. I hope it’s nothing serious. It was at the start of the first play. I didn’t feel a puncture, it became hard. It was difficult for me to move freely because of the discomfort and it affected my head. Tomorrow I will see how we continue“he admitted Messi in a mixed zone, with three days left until the closing of the group stage against the needy Peru in its adopted Miami.

The man from Rosario generated concern by requesting medical attention for pain in the adductor of his right leg 24 minutes into the first half. The flea He raised his head, looked towards the substitute bench and signaled to the coaching staff. They quickly attended to him: First they applied cold and then massaged it.

Although he quickly returned to the playing field at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, Messi He stood still and stretched several times to regain fitness.

In addition, he revealed that he did not feel at his best the days before the game and that could also have played a trick on him against Chile.

“I’ve had a sore throat and a fever for a couple of days, maybe that took its toll on me today too,” He explained and added about the annoyance: “It’s not something old or something I had, just a contracture. We will see”.

Regarding the development of the match against Chile, he analyzed: “They played their part, so it was the match we expected,” and acknowledged that “to play against South American teams in this type of competition, when you can’t play you have to take it out of some way”.

Furthermore, he explained: “We already know that teams have been falling behind for a long time. Many times we prepare games to play in one way and when they face us we don’t see the things we saw.”

On the other hand, he highlighted: “The group’s hunger is always there, this group allows us to play with great peace of mind.”

In addition, the man from Rosario was consulted about the possible rotation for the match with Peru, taking into account that the Argentine National Team is practically guaranteed first place:“See how these days are going, how I’m recovering, but yes, today we took an important step to be classified, but there are many games in a row, many trips, we will start to think about what is coming.”

Despite the concern caused by Messi’s discomfort, the captain of the National Team was able to play the entire game and apparently it would be nothing more than an annoyance. Another good news for his physique is that the technical director of the Argentine National Team, Lionel Scaloni, plans to rotate players in the match against Peru, which will close Argentina’s participation in the group stage.

Muscle problems Messi in 2024 date back to March when a small injury to the hamstring in his right leg left him out of the first leg of the quarterfinals of the Concachampions against Rayados, in addition to being previously preserved by an overload.

As a consequence, the Argentine captain was left out of the squad for the matches against El Salvador and Costa Rica, which were played in Philadelphia and Los Angeles, respectively. The idea was for the forward to stay in Miami to continue recovering from his illness.

Messi is playing in his seventh Copa América. He has already played in the 2007, 2011, 2015, 2016, 2019 and 2021 editions, and it was in the last one that he was able to lift his first title with the senior national team.