Is Lionel Messi Playing Tonight For Argentina Vs Chile?

The 2016 Copa America marked one of the most tumultuous times in Argentina’s soccer history. Chile ousted them in the tournament’s final via penalty shootout and forced Lionel Messi to retire with immediate effect. However, he took a U-turn later and rewrote Argentina’s history in the coming years. Now, La Pulga has yet another chance to settle that old score, as Argentina faces Chile on Tuesday at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. If they beat Chile, La Albiceleste can comfortably book a berth in the Copa’s knockout stage.

Lionel Messi played the whole 90 minutes in Argentina’s opener against Canada. Considering his recurrent injury woes at Inter Miami, it is remarkable of the skipper to stay till the end. However, the final 10 minutes of that game saw Leo Messi go down after Canada’s Moise Bombito’s tackle. So, is there an injury scare for him? We have you covered.

Will Lionel Messi take to the MetLife Stadium to face Chile?

At the moment, no injury woes are haunting the Argentine skipper. Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni has not hinted at such physical scares for their MVP. Therefore, Lionel Messi will most likely start against Chile, the way he did against Canada. Besides, this heavyweight second game against Chile is the most important group game for the World Champions. Firstly, Chile and Argentina are the strongest members of the group. Then, a win would ensure that the Albiceleste has cruised to the knockouts.

Hence, it is paramount for Scaloni and co. to bet on Messi’s expertise and experience to see off Chile. If Argentina manages to get on the winning track against Chile, Messi might be substituted at a point. Else, we’d see the skipper toil till the end. Furthermore, Argentina’s win against Chile would allow Scaloni to perhaps rest Messi in their final group game against Peru. Anyhow, the more Leo Messi plays at Copa, the more will be the risk, as most stadiums in the US use artificial turf, instead of natural grass. And Scaloni has already raised concerns about the same.

Scaloni’s concerns about artificial turfs highlight Messi’s injury risks

After Argentina’s tie against Canada, both the coach Scaloni and goalie Emiliano Martinez lamented the risk of playing on turfs. The Albiceleste coach was irked by the fact that the Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta had its turf fixed only two days before the Argentina-Canada game. “It is not good for the show. It is not an excuse, the stadium is beautiful and with synthetic turf it must be spectacular, but with today’s turf it is not suitable for this kind of players,” said Scaloni. Meanwhile, Martinez echoed the coach’s sentiment, stressing the pitch was a ‘disaster.’

The MetLife Stadium also has an artificial turf and it was at this stage that the Jets megastar Aaron Rodgers contracted a season-ending injury after tearing his Achilles last year. Messi being an MLS player is accustomed to artificial turfs. But playing 90 minutes on such surfaces during every other Copa game is not a welcome prospect for the injury-prone veteran.