Copa America beware! Lionel Messi let off the leash by Argentina ahead of continental title defence in the United States

The Albiceleste have been managing their captain’s workload since seeing him return to their ranks for the first time in six months. Injury problems at MLS side Inter Miami prevented Messi from figuring for his country in March, but he is very part of the fold heading into another major tournament.

With no risks being taken on his fitness, Messi was used off the bench in a 1-0 friendly victory over Ecuador. The intention is, however, to ramp up his game time ahead of competitive action resuming. Lionel Scaloni will include his talismanic No.10 from the start in a meeting with Guatemala on Friday.

Scaloni has said of his plans for Messi: “Leo is going to play from the start. The other day it was decided that he play a few minutes, and we had already talked about him playing. Based on how he is, we will see the amount. If he can play everything, even better. We expect the same from him as always: that he plays football, that he associates with his teammates and that he be himself. On the field, in the end what we need is that he is comfortable, that he is comfortable with the team that we put out.”

Argentina will settle on their final 26-man Copa squad after taking in a final warm-up game, with Messi and Co set to open a bid to go back-to-back in that competition when kicking off the tournament against Canada on June 20.