Lionel Messi watched on from the stands on the Laborious Rock Stadium in Miami as Argentina narrowly defeated fellow South American facet Venezuela 1-0 in a pleasant.
The 38-year-old had been a doubt earlier than kick-off with Argentina supervisor Lionel Scaloni insisting he was “not going to take any dangers by any means”.
And, positive sufficient, the Argentine captain performed no half within the contest, which was determined by a purpose from former Tottenham midfielder Giovani Lo Celso shortly after the half-hour mark.
Regardless of the scoreline, the reigning world champions, who’ve already secured a spot on the 2026 World Cup finals, had been largely dominant all through.
Scaloni backed his determination to relaxation Messi, saying he hoped the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner would function subsequent week in a pleasant towards Puerto Rico in Fort Lauderdale.
“The choice that Leo [Messi] received’t play was my determination,” Scaloni mentioned.
“We needed to check Lautaro [Martinez] and Julian [Alvarez], however we had Flaco (Lopez) on the bench, however he couldn’t come on and can play within the subsequent match. Let’s hope Leo can play within the subsequent one.”
The Argentina head coach additionally highlighted the advantages of enjoying a “tough” workforce like Venezuela, including it was a very good run-out for his workforce as they appear to defend their crown subsequent summer time.
Scaloni mentioned: “The take a look at will assist us rather a lot. All opponents are tough, much more so understanding that they play us at 100%.
“There are not any simple opponents. We received, however that’s not the necessary factor, we needed to see how the workforce was doing and acquire some minutes.
“It’s important to start out from a strong defence as a result of now we have gamers up entrance to do injury.”
