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With the goal against Ecuador, Leo (Messi) equaled his Uruguayan friend as the top scorer in the South American qualifiers. The number 10 requested a substitution and warned that we’ll have to get used to that situation happening again. Will he play on Tuesday against Bolivia? Cuti Romero, who had a great game, praised the captain.
Fortunately, the greatest in the world appeared and opened the game. Leo (Messi) always shows up in those moments when things might get tough for us. He has that special quality that only he possesses. We are happy to have him here and see him happy.” This statement was made by Cristian Romero, whose defensive performance was so solid that coach Lionel Scaloni dubbed him ‘He Man.’
The recipient of these words from the Tottenham central defender, who will likely be called ‘He Man’ from now on, was Lionel Messi, the genius who orchestrated the victory with a sublime free-kick, the man who, with that goal, equaled his friend Luis Suárez as the top scorer in the South American qualifiers with 29 goals.
It’s a pleasure to be here, both of us, given what the Qualifiers mean to us and South American football. It’s something very special for both of us,” Leo said about the new record achieved.
Then Messi referred to his substitution in the 88th minute: “In the end, I was a little tired. It happened that way. Surely, it won’t be the last time I start coming out during matches, but I felt very good. It was a difficult game to play, very physical, very tough, but I felt very good.”
The other Lionel, Scaloni, later explained about Messi: “He asked for the substitution himself. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have taken him out. It’s obvious. I don’t know what he has, honestly. Tomorrow, they will conduct tests on him. If he’s okay, he’ll go to Bolivia and play on Tuesday. If he’s not okay, we’ll see what we do. We’ll see. It’s all very recent.”
For now, from the Argentina national team’s perspective, they confirmed that Messi doesn’t have any specific injury. They attribute his substitution to fatigue due to playing 11 matches in 45 days with Inter Miami without having a preseason. In the coming hours, it will be determined whether he travels to La Paz to play at high altitude or if he rests. As the matches progress, we will find out if this was just an occasional situation or if we’ll have to get used to this 36-year-old Leo asking for something he has never liked: to be substituted.
