Lionel Messi: Argentina Star Trains With Childhood Hero Pablo Aimar Ahead of Luis Suarez Showdown

• Lionel Messi was spotted training with one of his role models, Pablo Aimar
• Aimar, who now serves in the Argentina coaching set-up, is a retired attacking midfielder
• Argentina will play Uruguay and Brazil in November's round of World Cup qualifiers

Lionel Messi was spotted going through an Argentina training session alongside one of his childhood idols, Pablo Aimar.

Messi has often spoken fondly of how Aimar inspired him in his tender days before he went on to become the world-beating superstar that he is today.

Naturally gifted at a young age that Barcelona decided to take a chance on him, Messi has admitted that apart from national legend Diego Maradona, he often admired Aimar. He repeated these sentiments recently when he sat down for a chat with Zinedine Zidane courtesy of Adidas Football.

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"Apart from Maradona, who always comes first for us, Pablo Aimar was the player I admired the most. I loved him very much."

It was, therefore, refreshing to see the eight-time Ballon d'Or winner do a training drill with Aimar ahead of the World Cup qualifiers.

Aimar is one of Lionel Scaloni's assistants and was part of the team that won the World Cup in Qatar last year. He is remembered for breaking into tears in Qatar after Messi scored a long-range strike against Mexico in the group stage.

Albiceleste were in danger of being eliminated from the competition after a first-day shock loss to Saudi Arabia before their captain dug deep to save them.

They play Uruguay on November 17 before facing Brazil next week in two heavyweight clashes in the South America World Cup qualifiers.

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Messi to present Ballon d'Or to Argentina fans

Ahead of the highly-anticipated Uruguay clash, in a special moment, Messi may grace the occasion by presenting his Ballon d'Or award to Argentina fans for the first time in his illustrious career, Sports Brief reported.

This symbolic gesture aligns with Messi's exceptional World Cup contributions to the national team, a pivotal factor in securing his eighth Ballon d'Or title.