Scaloni Drops a Major Hint on Messi’s Availability for Argentina vs. Brazil | OneFootball

Paris Saint-Germain forward Lionel Messi made his return to in-game action in Argentina’s 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifying fixture against Uruguay on Friday.

The PSG star featured in 14 minutes of the match as a substitute and recorded three ground duels won.

For now, Argentina will look towards a key World Cup qualifying encounter with Brazil on Tuesday. And more so, the question now lingers on whether Messi will start in the fixture or if he will go on to make another appearance for Argentina as a second-half substitute.

In speaking after the 1-0 win over Uruguay (via TyC Sports), Argentina manager Lionel Scaloni shed some light on this dilemma by noting that the decision to feature Messi against Uruguay was to help the forward dust off rust ahead of the clash with Brazil.

“His entry in the second half serves to get the rhythm ahead of the game with Brazil,” Scaloni said. “We decided not to play him in the starting line-up because he’s coming off some inactivity and the game was going to be like the one that happened.”

PSG club officials sure will keep a close watch on whether the Argentine forward will go on to feature against Brazil.