‘It is always difficult to enter from the bench’ – Messi on representing Argentina once again in FIFA World Cup

The most successful footballer of Argentina, Lionel Messi, has once again taken the field for the nation after leading the country towards victory in the FIFA World Cup 2022 win. The defending champions Argentina beat Paraguay by 1-0 in the recently held qualifying match for the FIFA World Cup in Buenos Aires on 12 October, Thursday night. 

Lionel Messi came to the field in the second half of the game and the only goal in the match was scored by Argentina. The team will play their next game against Peru on 17th October to keep their winning streak alive. Argentina has faced only one loss in the past 50 games, and the victory over Paraguay has amplified the team’s confidence and performance. 

Lionel Messi on representing Argentina once again after FIFA World Cup win

“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. The important thing is that we won, and we played well, especially in the first half”, said Lionel Messi. 

“I come here after playing only a few minutes for my club. We talked and planned to see how I feel during the week. The idea is to add more training sessions in the following days ahead of our next game”, he said. 

“Truthfully, I didn’t see it. My teammates told me in the locker room that he spat at me. I don’t know who this boy is and I don’t want to make a big thing out of it”, added Messi.  

“We will talk in the next days to determine his condition. He has two more training sessions to continue adding minutes on the pitch. At this point, I’m not ruling out any option. He could play from the start, as a substitute or not playing at all. 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”, said Scaloni while talking about Messi. 

“Obviously, it is always easier to have [Messi in the starting lineup]. It was nice to see him coming back after a while and be with us for some minutes. We are happy for him. We played well, but we feel we could have scored more goals tonight, especially in the first half. Anyway, happy with the result and how we played”, said Alexis Mac Allister.