35-year-old Argentina legend and captain, Lionel Messi will face Saudi Arabia at his final World Cup. Argentina are firm favorites to lift the trophy in December.
The Albiceleste are firm favorites to win the World Cup, behind South American rivals Brazil. Argentina will be under pressure to ensure Messi is fit ahead of the fixture against Saudi Arabia.
On Friday and Saturday, Lionel Messi did not attend scheduled team training, open to the media. Instead, he opted to train individually, because of what the Argentina Football Federation termed as “muscle overload”
On Monday, much to the relief of football fans across the globe, Messi made a rare appearance at a news conference and spoke positively about his fitness, “I feel very good physically, I think I’m in a great moment, both personally and physically and I don’t have any problems.”
On training, the 7-time Ballon d’Or winner said, “I didn’t do anything special. I took care of myself and worked as I have done all my career, knowing that this is a special moment, as this is probably my last World Cup, my last chance to achieve this great dream that I have, that we all have.”
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Argentina are on a 36-match unbeaten run and faces the second-lowest-ranked team at the 2022 Qatar World Cup. According to Al Jazeera. Messi will become the only Argentinian to feature in 5 world cups, one more than Diego Maradona and Javier Mascherano.
French coach Hervé Renard manages Saudi Arabia and expressed the team’s desire to win at the tournament, “We haven’t come to this World Cup just for a jolly. We have come here to be the best we can. We hope all the Saudis in the stadium will be proud of us, that is the most important thing.”
Confirmed Lineups
Argentina: Emiliano Martinez, Nahuel Molina, Cristian Romero, Nicolas Otamendi, Nicolas Tagliafico, Alejandro Gomez, Rodrigo De Paul, Leandro Paredes, Lionel Messi, Lautaro Martinez, Angel Di Maria.
Saudi Arabia: Mohamed Al-Owais, Ali Al-Bulaihi, Yasser Al-Shahrani, Mohamed Kanno, Saud Abdulhamid, Abdulelah Al-Malki, Saleh Al-Shehri, Hassan Al-Tambakti, Salman Al-Faraj, Salem Al-Dawsari, Firas Al-Buraikan.
Match Prediction
Argentina (4)-(0) Saudi Arabia
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