The two-time world champions come into the FIFA World Cup as one of the pre-tournament favorites. There have been doubts surrounding Messi's availability for the game against Saudi Arabia.
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Messi had caused alarm over the weekend by failing to show up for a scheduled team training open to the media. He trained individually on Friday and Saturday because of what the Argentinian football federation described as “muscle overload”.
Fitness concerns had raised questions about whether Messi would play the full 90 minutes against Saudi Arabia, but he played those concerns down when making a rare appearance at a news conference on Monday.
“I feel very good physically, I think I’m in a great moment, both personally and physically and I don’t have any problems,” Messi said.
“I heard that they said I trained differently. It was because I had a knock but there is nothing strange [happening]. It was just a precaution,” he said.
Fitness concerns had raised questions about whether Messi would play the full 90 minutes against Saudi Arabia, but he played those concerns down when making a rare appearance at a news conference on Monday.
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“I feel very good physically, I think I’m in a great moment, both personally and physically and I don’t have any problems,” Messi said.
“I heard that they said I trained differently. It was because I had a knock but there is nothing strange [happening]. It was just a precaution,” he said.
