BUENOS AIRES: Lionel Messi will play for Argentina when his team faces Brazil in a World Cup qualifying match on Tuesday.
Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni said Monday that Messi, who has been bothered by a knee injury, will play in San Juan in a match that could earn the team a spot in next year’s World Cup.
Messi played only 15 minutes in Argentina’s 1-0 victory over Uruguay on Friday. He also missed two Paris Saint-Germain matches because of the injury.
“A few days ago he was physically fit and at the end we decided that the best would be for him to play for a few minutes so he starts getting that good feeling,” Scaloni said. “For tomorrow (Tuesday), it is confirmed that he will play. We hope he finds himself in a good place.”
The Argentines, in second place in the 10-team South American standings behind Brazil, can qualify with a victory. Brazil has already claimed one of the four automatic qualifying spots from the region.
Brazil has not won in Argentina since 2009.
Scaloni’s main doubt for the match is in the midfield. Leonardo Paredes is recovering from an injury and could once again be replaced by Guido Rodríguez.
Brazil will be missing the suspended Casemiro, who could be replaced by Fabinho. Brazil coach Tite also expects to test out other players, possibly using Matheus Cunha up front instead of Gabriel Jesus.
In September, the qualifier between the teams was suspended after seven minutes of play because of COVID-19 protocols. FIFA has not yet announced what it will do with that match.
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Lionel Messi to play against Brazil in World Cup qualifying
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Lionel Messi to play against Brazil in World Cup qualifying
- Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni said Monday that Messi, who has been bothered by a knee injury, will play in San Juan
- Messi played only 15 minutes in Argentina’s 1-0 victory over Uruguay on Friday
Verstappen fumes ‘whole day a disaster’ after Shanghai struggles
- A fuming Max Verstappen said Friday was “a disaster” after torrid practice and sprint qualifying sessions at the Chinese Grand Prix
SHANGHAI: A fuming Max Verstappen said Friday was “a disaster” after torrid practice and sprint qualifying sessions at the Chinese Grand Prix.
Verstappen’s Red Bull was almost two seconds behind championship leader George Russell’s Mercedes as he finished in eighth place in both sessions in Shanghai.
The Red Bulls struggled for pace again on the second race weekend of the season with their new in-house power units having replaced Honda as engine supplier.
They are also clearly far from getting to grips with the sweeping new aerodynamic and chassis regulations as Formula One enters an era of a 50-50 split between conventional and electrical power.
“The whole day has been a disaster pace-wise: no grip — I honestly think that is the biggest problem — no grip, no balance,” said an angry four-time world champion Verstappen, whose best lap was a colossal 1.734 sec adrift of Russell.
“(We are) just losing massive amounts of time in the corners and then of course because of that you start to trigger other little problems.
“But the biggest problem for us is that the cornering is completely out.”
His teammate Isack Hadjar fared even worse, he was 10th, barely scraping into the top-10 shootout in sprint qualifying.
It prompted Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies to apologize to Verstappen.
“Sorry, Max,” said Mekies over team radio at the end of the session.
“Tough one, a lot to learn. The weekend is still long, we need to learn from (it). Let’s try again.”
Verstappen, who fought back from a qualifying crash in the opening race in Australia last weekend to finish sixth from 20th on the grid, was at a loss as to the way forward.
“I don’t know at the moment what we can do. We’ll see,” said the Dutchman.
Verstappen’s Red Bull was almost two seconds behind championship leader George Russell’s Mercedes as he finished in eighth place in both sessions in Shanghai.
The Red Bulls struggled for pace again on the second race weekend of the season with their new in-house power units having replaced Honda as engine supplier.
They are also clearly far from getting to grips with the sweeping new aerodynamic and chassis regulations as Formula One enters an era of a 50-50 split between conventional and electrical power.
“The whole day has been a disaster pace-wise: no grip — I honestly think that is the biggest problem — no grip, no balance,” said an angry four-time world champion Verstappen, whose best lap was a colossal 1.734 sec adrift of Russell.
“(We are) just losing massive amounts of time in the corners and then of course because of that you start to trigger other little problems.
“But the biggest problem for us is that the cornering is completely out.”
His teammate Isack Hadjar fared even worse, he was 10th, barely scraping into the top-10 shootout in sprint qualifying.
It prompted Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies to apologize to Verstappen.
“Sorry, Max,” said Mekies over team radio at the end of the session.
“Tough one, a lot to learn. The weekend is still long, we need to learn from (it). Let’s try again.”
Verstappen, who fought back from a qualifying crash in the opening race in Australia last weekend to finish sixth from 20th on the grid, was at a loss as to the way forward.
“I don’t know at the moment what we can do. We’ll see,” said the Dutchman.
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