Argentina vs Ecuador: Will Lionel Messi play Today in the Copa America 2024 Quarter-Final?

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Argentina's Copa America 2024 campaign has arrived at a pivotal stage as the defending champions take on Ecuador in the quarterfinals on Thursday (July 4).

After a fantastic group stage performance, Argentina finished on top of Group A with 9 points. They won all three matches during the group stage, but Lionel Messi missed the last match against Peru.

Messi suffered an injury in the second match against Chile and didn't take part in their final group-stage fixture. It was revealed that Messi has suffered a groin injury.

"Leo had a [groin] problem in the last game and, in this one, he will not be there," Argentina assistant coach Walter Samuel said in the pre-match press conference of that Peru match.

Samuel also confirmed that Messi's injury will have to be checked on a daily basis to know more about it. And as Argentina take on Ecuador in this upcoming quarterfinal clash, Argentina's captain may well be out of it. Even Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni confirmed that Messi may well be missing from this match, which is a huge blow for Argentina.

"We will wait a few hours and make a decision. Another day is always better. We'll decide on the basis of the response we get today," Scaloni said.

Copa America 2024: Will Lionel Messi Play today vs Peru?

The Argentina coach also confirmed that they will check on Messi's fitness and decide according to it. But if the injury doesn't permit the player to play, Argentina may have to play without the talisman. As far as MyKhel's understanding, Messi's groin injury can take up to 10 days to heal and the player may well be close to returning.

Hence it may not be a far-fetched hypothesis to predict if Messi comes on from the bench against Ecuador, but he may not start for Argentina.