Messi back in Argentina squad

The sun on the Argentinian flag is shining brighter than ever today after it was announced that Lionel Messi is back in the national team.

National manager Lionel Scaloni has named the Barça star in his latest squad, the first time Messi has featured since the World Cup in Russia. Since then, the 1978 and 1986 world champions have played friendlies against Guatemala, Colombia, Iraq, Brazil and Mexico (twice), but their greatest player was absent for all of them.

Argentina have friendlies coming up against Venezuela and Morocco. They’ll be facing their fellow South Americans at Atlético Madrid’s Wanda Metropolitano on March 22, a stadium at which Messi has yet to score after visiting it twice since it was opened.

Copa America on the horizon

Another, and more important, target for Messi is to finally win a major trophy in his national jersey, and he’ll have another chance to just that from June 14 to July 7 of this year when Brazil hosts the latest edition of the Copa America.

Barça could potentially not just have Coutinho, Arthur, Malcom and Rafinha playing for the hosts at that competition, but also Murillo for Colombia, Luis Suárez for Uruguay and Arturo Vidal for Chile.