miami
\nLionel Messi was at the centre of an injury scare just weeks before the start of the World Cup on Sunday after abruptly exiting Inter Miami\u2019s Major League Soccer clash against the Philadelphia Union.
\nArgentina superstar Messi was substituted in the 73rd minute at a rain-soaked Nu Stadium in Miami after clutching the back of his left leg and requesting to come off.
\nThe 38-year-old icon appeared to be walking normally as he headed straight down the tunnel after exiting the game, which Miami went on to win 6-4.
\nInter Miami coach Guillermo Hoyos said after the game it was too early to determine if Messi was injured, and suggested the Argentine\u2019s substitution was precautionary due to the pitch conditions.
\n\u201cAs far as I know, we don\u2019t have a (medical) report on that yet, but we will have one shortly,\u201d Hoyos said after the game when asked for details of Messi\u2019s condition.
\n\u201cHe was genuinely suffering from fatigue in that regard \u2014 it is indeed fatigue.
\n\u201cHe was tired; the pitch was heavy, and when in doubt, the standard approach is always to ensure you don\u2019t take any risks.\u201d
\nMessi\u2019s Inter Miami team-mate Mateo Silvetti was unable to shed any light on his compatriot\u2019s condition.
\n\u201cI\u2019m just as in the dark as everyone else,\u201d Silvetti said. \u201cAt that moment, we were all focused on the match. I didn\u2019t know if it was an injury or if he was simply tired.
\n\u201cWe\u2019re hoping it turns out to be nothing serious. Given his mindset and everything else, we\u2019re going to wish him the very best.\u201d
\nMessi has carefully managed his workload since joining Inter Miami in 2023, with team staff regularly excusing him from games during particularly congested fixture periods.
\nHe has spent multiple stints on the sidelines in the past few years due to problems with his hamstring, which caused him to miss parts of Miami\u2019s pre-season campaign earlier this year.
\nAny significant injury to the eight-time Ballon D\u2019Or winner, though, would deal a huge blow to Argentina\u2019s hopes of defending their World Cup crown in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
\nThe tournament kicks off in Mexico City on June 11, with Argentina due to play their opening game against Algeria in Kansas City five days later.
\nInter Miami\u2019s game on Sunday was the last before MLS takes a break ahead of the World Cup.
\nMessi has not formally confirmed he plans to play in the World Cup, but is widely expected to return for what will be a record-equalling sixth appearance at the finals.
\nArgentina\u2019s squad is due to be named next week, and the South American giants will head to the United States shortly afterwards for pre-World Cup friendlies against Honduras in Texas on June 6, followed by a game against Iceland on June 9.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
miami Lionel Messi was at the centre of an injury scare just weeks before the start of the World Cup on Sunday after abruptly exiting Inter Miami\u2019s Major League Soccer clash against the Philadelphia Union. Argentina superstar Messi was substituted in the 73rd minute at a rain-soaked Nu Stadium in Miami after clutching the back …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":98267,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-98280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98280"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98280\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98291,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98280\/revisions\/98291"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}