Lionel Messi: Fans briefly feared PSG star suffered injury ahead of 2022 World Cup | OneFootball

Lionel Messi had millions of football fans worried for a split second during Paris Saint-Germain’s 7-2 victory over Maccabi Haifa in the Champions League.

The legendary forward produced another masterclass for PSG at the Parc des Princes, scoring two goals and registering the same number of assists in a Match of the Match performance.

Messi has been in scintillating form so far this season, netting 11 goals and providing 12 assists in 16 appearances, and looks set to enter next month’s World Cup finals full of confidence.

Qatar 2022 is expected to be Messi’s final World Cup. In a recent interview with Star Plus, per The Guardian, the 34-year-old said: “There’s some anxiety and nerves at the same time … it is the last one.”

He’s made no secret of the fact that winning the World Cup with Argentina would trump all of his other achievements throughout his extraordinary career.

You get the feeling that Messi would trade all of his other trophies if it meant lifting the World Cup with his beloved Argentina, who were last crowned world champions when the late Diego Maradona inspired them to glory in 1986.

The moment Messi left millions of hearts in mouths

With only a few weeks remaining before Argentina begin their World Cup campaign against Saudi Arabia on November 22, football fans had their hearts in their mouths when Messi went to ground in the 72nd minute against Maccabi Haifa.

The world-class forward held up his hand before going to ground with a pained expression on his face.

Maccabi Haifa’s Sean Goldberg, who’d only just scored an own goal to put PSG 6-2 up, must have been the most worried person in the stadium as the referee blew his whistle to stop play.

But everybody was left breathing a huge sigh of relief when it transpired that Messi wasn’t injured. He put his boot back on and went on to play the full 90 minutes.

Phew!

And here’s how football fans reacted on social media:

It would be truly devastating for every football lover if Messi missed what is set to be his final World Cup through injury.

PSG have four more fixtures before the World Cup begins and there will be millions hoping that Christophe Galtier wraps the player widely regarded as the GOAT (Greatest of all time) up in cotton wool over the next few weeks.

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