Just hours ago, Argentina played their World Cup qualifier match against Paraguay. La Albiceleste managed to clinch a narrow victory in the crucial match. Fans also got to witness Inter Miami superstar Lionel Messi in action, who came off the bench. While he couldn’t manage to find the back of the net, the skipper happily shared his first words since coming back from an injury and following the win.

The last time Lionel Messi was seen in action was on September 21, during Inter Miami’s game against Toronto. The striker left the pitch in discomfort after sustaining an injury and then made a return for Miami on October 8th, during a loss against Cincinnati.

Lionel Messi shares his first words following Argentina’s narrow win

With Inter Miami’s playoff hopes ending, Lionel Messi wasted no time and joined his national teammates to play this month’s World Cup qualifiers. The first challenge came against Paraguay, which they managed to win by an early 3rd-minute goal from defender Nicolas Otamendi. Notably, Lionel Messi didn’t start the match as he came off the bench in the 55th minute, replacing Manchester City’s Julian Alvarez.

Despite having more than half an hour, the #10 failed to get his name on the scoresheet. Yet he had a few happy words to say. As per TNT Sports and translated by DeepL he said, “It was a very difficult scenario to play in La Paz and again today. The team played a great first half. As we always say, playing in the qualifiers is very difficult. It’s hard to find space.”

The soccer legend continued, “We could have easily gone away with a bigger lead in the first half”. Simultaneously, the captain expressed his viewpoint regarding the winning goal for the national team. “It was a good move by the coaching staff, sometimes it comes out,” he said. Notably, these were the Argentine’s first words since his return from injury. It seems the striker is happy with his team’s performance.

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Additionally, Lionel Messi also showered praise for his Argentinian teammate and goalkeeper Dibu Martinez, who broke a significant record.

Dibu breaks a historical record and gets praised by Messi

As usual, Lionel Scaloni picked Emiliano Martínez as the man to guard the two sticks. Interestingly, his inclusion in today’s match led the Aston Villa goalkeeper to break a historical record for his national team. Dibu has reached 622 minutes without conceding a goal. Remarkably, this is a new record for the national team as he broke iconic goalkeeper Mono Burgos’s record of 606 minutes. This achievement was acknowledged by Lionel Messi, who had some words of praise for the keeper.

As translated by DeepL, La Pulga said, “Deserved, he’s a beast. I’m happy for him. It’s his merit but also that of the whole team, it’s not easy.” Indeed, Dibu must be happy to hear compliments from his captain and also write his name in the history books of Argentina.

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