Inter Miami Boss Tata Martino Speaks Truth On Lionel Messi Absence

No, Messi Didn’t Play in Bolivia and Yes, He Was On the Bench

Teams had two matches during this two-week international break. For Inter Miami forward and Argentina captain Lionel Messi, it meant a home match with Ecuador last week and a trip to the interesting terrain of La Paz to take on Bolivia.

Now, these are CONMEBOL qualifiers for the World Cup, so they are important, but there is a long road to hoe in the competition — meaning there are a lot more matches to play.

Messi came out and scored the match-winner at home against Ecuador, but there were concerns over his availability for the last match at Bolivia (as we mentioned here).

Needless to say, Messi did not play against Bolivia on Tuesday night.

But Argentina didn’t really need him as Enzo Fernandez, Nicolas Tagliafico and Nicolas Gonzalez notched goals in La Albiceleste’s 3-0 drubbing of Bolivia.

He was interviewed by Telemundo about his absence and Messi kept it simple:

"I was a little tired, so it happened that I went out and surely it won’t be the last time I go out during matches."

- Lionel Messi, Inter Miami forward

Argentina boss Lionel Scaloni didn’t speak of any overriding concerns with Messi other than he was fatigued… that’s it.