Is Lionel Messi playing for Argentina against Bolivia tonight?

Lionel Messi could feature when Argentina travel to face Bolivia in their second 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifier game on Tuesday, September 12. The defending world champions will want to secure consecutive victories to kickstart their campaign.

Argentina come into the game on the back of a narrow 1-0 victory over Ecuador in their opening fixture of the qualifiers. Messi scored a 78-minute free-kick to secure all three points for his national side. The Inter Miami superstar, however, came off before the full-time whistle due to a niggle.

According to the Daily Mail, Lionel Messi underwent a few precautionary tests after the game against Ecuador. The seven-time Ballon d'Or winner, however, has travelled to the high altitudes of Bolivia with the rest of the squad and is likely to take part in the match.

Argentina manager Lionel Scaloni said the following regarding Messi's fitness a couple of days back (via Daily Mail):

"Messi is going to travel to Bolivia. Today he trained differently, but there are still 2 days left until the game and we will make the decision tomorrow whether he plays or not. The team is going to be similar to the one that played against Ecuador."

Should Lionel Messi start, he will captain the team and lead the attack against Bolivia on Tuesday. Scaloni has a number of great attackers to choose from to partner the former Barcelona star in attack. These include the likes of Lautaro Martinez, Nicolas Gonzalez, Angel Di Maria, and Julian Alvarez.

Bolivia come into the game on the back of a 5-1 defeat at the hands of Brazil in their opening game of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers. They will face yet another stern test against the defending champions regardless of whether Messi starts or not.

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How did Argentina skipper Lionel Messi do against Bolivia in the previous World Cup qualifying campaign?

Argentina faced Bolivia twice during the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers and won both of those encounters. They picked up a 2-1 win in their first clash before securing a 3-0 victory back in September 2021.

Lionel Messi did not provide a single goalscoring contribution in the 2-1 victory back in 2020. However, he made up for that disappointment in their next fixture by scoring a hat-trick. It was Messi's seventh hat-trick for his national side and his first against Bolivia. The star forward ended the 2022 qualifying campaign with a total of seven goals.

At the time of writing, Lionel Messi has scored 104 goals for Argentina from a total of 176 caps. 29 of those goals have come in FIFA World Cup qualifiers.