Lionel Messi will start Argentina's final World Cup group match against Jordan on the bench, manager Lionel Scaloni has confirmed — a decision that rests the tournament's top scorer without injury concerns.
Messi, 39, leads the Golden Boot standings with five goals from his first two matches, including a double against Austria that made him the World Cup's all-time record goalscorer. Speaking before the match in Dallas, which will kick-off at 03:00 BST on Sunday, Scaloni said the move was agreed with the player. "Leo [Messi] will most likely come on in the second half," Scaloni said. "We talked and agreed that it was better that way, but obviously it's also good for him to stay in competitive form."
“Lionel Messi will start Argentina's final group match against Jordan on the bench, manager Lionel Scaloni confirms.”
The manager insisted the decision was not injury related, adding: "The decision of who plays tomorrow is not related to who plays in the next match. Jordan is a good opponent, and our intention will be to have the ball and dominate through possession. The opponent's forwards are fast and we will have to take that into account."
Messi's rest follows a trend of star forwards being given reduced minutes in the final group stage. Kylian Mbappe failed to add to his four goals in France's 4-1 win over Norway, a game that saw Erling Haaland, also on four goals, stay on the bench. Meanwhile, Ousmane Dembele put himself into Golden Boot contention with a first-half hat-trick to move to four goals for the tournament.
Argentina have already secured qualification from Group J, allowing Scaloni to rotate his squad. Messi's second-half introduction in Dallas will likely aim to maintain his competitive rhythm without risking fatigue ahead of the knockout stages.