Olaleye Idowu
Argentina’s head coach, Lionel Scaloni, has asked for Lionel Messi not to be put under pressure over playing at the 2026 World Cup.
The world champions secured their place in next year’s competition with a 4-1 win over Brazil earlier this week.
The question on the lips of fans is now if Messi, 37, will play in his sixth tournament.
“We will see what happens, there’s plenty of time,” Scaloni said.
“We must go one game at a time otherwise [we] will be speaking about the same thing the rest of the year and we need to leave him alone, we will see.
“He will decide it whenever he wants; let’s not drive him crazy with this.”
Messi was unavailable for Argentina’s last two games against Uruguay and Brazil.
The Inter Miami superstar was ruled out after sustaining a low-grade adductor muscle injury.
