Lionel Scaloni Faces Late Decision on Messi for Argentina Against Peru

• Argentina will travel to Peru ahead of Wednesday's 2026 World Cup qualifier clash
• Lionel Messi came off the bench in the second half of the 1-0 win over Paraguay
• Head coach Lionel Scaloni will make a late decision on whether the captain starts against Peru

Lionel Messi faces a race to be fit. At the same time, Lionel Scaloni will make a late decision on whether Argentina captain starts against Peru on Wednesday in the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifier.

Argentina will travel to Peru to face their South American counterpart in the CONMEBOL edition of the qualifier to the 2026 Mundial to be hosted in the USA, Mexico and Canada.

According to The Daily Star, La Albiceleste are the only team with a 100% record left in the competition after Brazil drew Venezuela at home in the third round.

The biggest World Cup snubs: A list of footballers left out of their countries’ World Cup squad

Football

The two top nations of the continent will meet in Rio de Janeiro next month in the game week five of the qualifier, before which the five-time world champions will travel to Uruguay.

Will Messi start against Peru?

Messi's fitness has been the subject of speculation since he walked out of the 1-0 win over Ecuador in the first game and sat out the 3-0 win over Bolivia in La Paz.

Since then, he played only 72 minutes for his club, Inter Miami, as they lost the US Open Cup final and missed out on the MLS playoff spot with two games left in the season.

He came off the bench for the 1-0 win over Paraguay, and as spotted by ESPN, he took part in the last training session and trained normally before the flight to Peru.

Speaking during the training session, as quoted by AlbicelesteTalk, Scaloni provided an update on his fitness.

Mateu Lahoz claims Messi apologised to him after World Cup incident

Football

“Messi is fine, he has been training. We will make the decision tomorrow: if he is fine, he will play, which is what we all want. For the good of football, we always want Messi on the field,” he said.

If Messi is unable to start, the team will continue with the strike pair of Julian Alvarez and Lautaro Martinez, who started the last game.

Why Messi was substituted against Ecuador

Sports Brief reported on why Messi was substituted against Ecuador as head coach Lionel Scaloni cleared the air on hauling him off in the 87th minute after putting the team ahead.

Scaloni claimed it was the captain's request to be brought off, which the Inter Miami star clarified to be tiredness and that he is fine and not injured as many thought.