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Lionel Messi is confirmed to be unavailable for Argentina’s World Cup qualifier against Colombia on Tuesday.
The seven-time Ballon d’Or winner did not play a part in the recent 2-1 victory over Chile after being given a rest by Argentina. Lionel Messi decided to fly back to Argentina with his family during the recent Ligue 1 Christmas break. He ended up contracting COVID-19 during the trip and only recently returned to action for his club.
Messi’s month-long absence came to an end when he came on as a substitute during PSG’s 4-0 victory over Reims last week. He played the entire 120 minutes during the French cup penalty shootout loss to Nice yesterday.
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First-half goals from Angel Di Maria and Lautaro Martinez led to a comfortable victory against Chile for Argentina. La Albiceleste have not yet lost a game during the World Cup Qualifiers campaign and have nine wins and five draws from 14 games thus far.
Lionel Messi’s PSG goal rut continues despite lengthy break
Lionel Messi’s overall form has not been the worst since the start of the season. However, the Argentinian has been unlucky with his finishing and has at times looked disconnected from his team.
Messi has scored just one Ligue 1 goal for PSG thus far, although he has five Champions League goals in as many appearances in the competition.
The recent COVID-related absence came at the worst time for the club considering that even Neymar is currently unavailable. Mauricio Pochettino has not been able to count on his three major stars together for consistent spells this season. All three of Kylian Mbappe, Neymar and Lionel Messi started the Champions League loss against Manchester City.
The manager obviously needs time to devise the best tactical system for his attack-oriented squad. Of course, time is the one thing that is running out considering PSG have a Champions League knockout round against Real Madrid coming up.
They are still hopeful of being able to count on Neymar as well while Lionel Messi recently returned to action. Kylian Mbappe has been the clear primary scorer for the French club and has 19 goals and 13 assists in 29 appearances across competitions.
Messi needs to register a huge uptick in form in the coming weeks and months if he has to emerge as a contender for next year’s major individual awards.
