Lionel Messi named in Argentina squad for World Cup qualifiers despite injury concerns

Paris Saint-Germain superstar Lionel Messi has been named in Argentina's squad for the FIFA World Cup Qualifiers despite doubts surrounding his most recent injury.

Lionel Messi has been suffering from a knee injury that forced him to miss Paris Saint-Germain's Champions League game against RB Leipzig. Despite these injury concerns, Argentina manager Lionel Scaloni has named the six-time Ballon d'Or winner in his squad, who are scheduled to play Uruguay and Brazil.

Clearly, the Argentina coaching staff believe the injury to Lionel Messi is not that serious and he could at least feature in their game against Brazil which is scheduled to take place on November 16.

Lionel Messi is one of the few star forwards picked by Argentina for the World Cup Qualifiers. Other big-name forwards included in the squad are Lautaro Martinez, Paulo Dybala, Angel Di Maria and Angel Correa.

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The Argentina squad which will face Uruguay and Brazil is as follows:

Goalkeepers: Franco Armani, Emiliano Martínez, Juan Musso, Federico Gómes Gerth

Defenders: Nahuel Molina, Gonzalo Montiel, Marcos Acuna, Cristian Romero, German Pezzella, Nicolas Otamendi, Lucas Martínez Quarta, Nicolas Tagliafico, Lisandro Martínez, Gaston Avila

Midfielders: Guido Rodríguez, Leandro Paredes, Enzo Fernandez, Santiago Simon, Rodrigo De Paul, Exequiel Palacios, Giovani Lo Celso, Nicolas Domínguez, Cristian Medina, Matias Soule.

Forwards: Angel Di María, Lionel Messi, Angel Correa, Lautaro Martínez, Joaquin Correa, Paulo Dybala, Julián Alvarez, Nicolas Gonzalez, Thiago Almada, Exequiel Zeballos.

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Lionel Messi is leading from the front as Argentina remain unbeaten in the qualifying campaign

Lionel Messi has led Argentina from the front as the Copa America winners maintain an unbeaten start to their qualifying campaign for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

The 34-year-old forward has scored six goals in the qualification campaign so far and is currently third on the top scorer's chart. Those goals also include a hat-trick against Bolivia from earlier this year. Lionel Messi is only trailing Bolivia's Marcelo Moreno (8 goals) and his Paris Saint-Germain teammate Neymar (7).

Argentina are currently second in the standings, having picked up 25 points from their 11 games. The two-time World Cup winners trail arch-rivals Brazil by six points, who are themselves unbeaten in this qualifying campaign.

The 2022 FIFA World Cup will be Lionel Messi's final opportunity to win football's greatest prize with Argentina. The 34-year-old forward came agonizingly close to winning the World Cup when his Albiceleste side lost in the final to Germany back in 2014.