Will Lionel Messi play tonight for Argentina vs Paraguay in World Cup qualifier?

Messi scored a hat trick for Argentina the last time he played for the national team.

At Thursday’s FIFA World Cup 2026 CONMEBOL qualifiers at the Estadio Defensores del Chaco in Asuncion, Lionel Messi’s Argentina are hoping to defeat Paraguay on their own territory.

As La Albiceleste kick off the November international break against Paraguay, Argentina hope to regain a dominant lead in the CONMEBOL World Cup qualifying standings.

Uruguay and Colombia have posed a serious threat to Messi’s international team, who now lead the table by three points.

The defending world champions, Argentina, appear well-positioned to defend their title at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which is going to be jointly organized by the United States of America (USA), Canada, and Mexico in two years.

Argentina, the top-ranked football team in the world according to the most recent FIFA rankings, crushed Bolivia 6-0 on matchday 10 and will be looking to dominate Paraguay this week.

Will Messi play tonight?

After his side Inter Miami were eliminated from the MLS Cup Messi’s entire focus now will be on leading his national team to win against Paraguay and Peru. The Argentine’s hopes of winning the MLS Cup were diminished when his side were eliminated from the competition by Atlanta United in the best-of-three series.

However, the former Barcelona man will now prepare for the national team games before he goes on holiday as his club season is already over and he won’t be back in action until next year.

While preparing for the Argentina National Football team, Lionel Messi shared a number of images on his official Instagram account.

Messi is preparing for the FIFA World Cup Qualifiers match between Argentina and Paraguay and is expected to start. Lionel Scaloni, the head coach of Argentina, is expected to want Messi to start for his country given his recent performance.

Messi has shown no signs of slowing down and has been regularly adding more goals to his tally and will hope to score more when Argentina face Paraguay.

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