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Lionel Messi will return to Argentina’s starting line-up for tonight’s Copa America Centenario clash with Panama, coach Gerardo Martino confirmed yesterday.
Speaking to reporters at Soldier Field ahead of the Group D game, Martino said Messi had been cleared to play after recovering from a back injury. “Leo trained with the group normally. There is nothing unusual, and he will play (tomorrow),” Martino said. “With Leo as with any other player, once you get a medical discharge, he is available for selection,” he added.
Messi, who injured his lower back during Argentina’s friendly win over Honduras last month, was on the bench for the Albiceleste’s opening 2-1 victory over Chile on Monday in Santa Clara. He was replaced by Nicolas Gaitan, who is likely to make way for the Barcelona superstar in the Panama clash, where a win will send Argentina into the quarter-finals.
Meanwhile, Panama coach Hernan Dario Gomez said no amount of preparation is enough to snuff out the threat of ‘Assassin’ Messi. Both sides have three points after Panama marked their first appearance in the world’s oldest international tournament with a surprise 2-1 win over Bolivia, who face Chile in Foxborough tonight.
“You can work a lot to build a team, but against Messi there’s nothing you can do. If Messi’s inspired he can kill anyone,” Colombian Gomez told reporters. “One works on tactics and has a team but individuals are above that in football. Messi is a man who is above everyone,” he added of the Argentina captain, five times winner of the World Player of the Year award.
Gomez said his players were enjoying facing world class teams as they build towards the final stages of the CONCACAF 2018 World Cup qualifiers. Panama face Chile in Philadelphia in their third match on Tuesday.
Messi is keen to get game time before the knockout phase of the centenary tournament begins, after sitting out the win over Chile as a substitute. It was the first time he had stayed on the bench for a whole game in 10 years, since Argentina’s 2006 World Cup quarter-final loss to Germany when he was a teenager.
Messi, who turns 29 two days before the final in East Rutherford on June 26, has said he is determined to win the tournament after finishing on the losing side in the 2014 World Cup final in Brazil and the 2007 and 2015 Copa America finals.
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