Messi recovering well from injury, could feature in Argentina warm-ups, says Scaloni

Lionel Messi is on the mend and could make an appearance in Argentina's final World Cup warm-up games, coach Lionel Scaloni announced Friday. The star forward sustained a muscle strain 10 days ago during an Inter Miami match, sparking worries about his readiness for the global tournament.

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Leo is doing well, he’s already trained with the group for part of the session, and that’s significant. He’s no longer training separately.

Scaloni stated that Messi is improving significantly and has rejoined team training. "He is no longer training separately," the coach said at a press conference. "He is improving a lot and could even take part in one of the (warm-up) matches for a few minutes. We’ll see whether it’s this one or the next, but he’s much better and that gives us peace of mind."

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He is improving a lot and could even take part in one of the (warm-up) matches for a few minutes. We’ll see whether it’s this one or the next, but he’s much better and that gives us peace of mind.

Messi, who captained Argentina to their 2022 World Cup victory, is preparing for his sixth World Cup. Scaloni shared a lighthearted anecdote about informing Messi of his squad selection, saying the player initially joked about waiting for the list. Argentina is set to face Honduras on Saturday and Iceland on Tuesday in their final friendlies before the World Cup kicks off on June 11.

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I sent him a message and he told me he would wait for the squad list to see if he ⁠had been called up. I told him, ’You’re called up.’ That’s how it happened.