LIONEL MESSI scared football fans around the world when he pulled up during Paris Saint-Germain’s Champions League clash this week.
The Argentine is set to feature in his fifth and almost certainly final World Cup when he travels to Qatar next month.
But fans hoping to see Leo have one final crack at winning it had an almighty scare during PSG’s routine 7-2 victory over Maccabi Haifa this week.
In the 72nd minute, with the score comfortable at 6-2, Messi appeared to pull up when fouled.
He immediately sank to his haunches, signalling that something was wrong.
In this moment, it appeared he may have suffered a catastrophically timed injury.
But a second later the grimace disappeared from Messi’s face... because it turned out he just needed to tie his shoelace.
The 35-year-old remained on the field for the duration of the game, having been in devastating form.
He became the oldest man to ever grab two goals and two assists in a Champions League game, with some reports even claiming his tally had beaten Pele’s much-debated career record for combined goals and assists.
While Messi is in brilliant form, his millions of fans will just hope to see him healthy going into the World Cup finals... with plenty of top players having recently received the devastating news that they will miss the tournament.
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The likes of Paul Pogba, N’Golo Kante and Diogo Jota have already been ruled out of the World Cup with injuries.
While Manchester United star Raphael Varane left the field in tears after pulling up during his side’s clash with Chelsea last week... knowing his World Cup hopes were hanging in the balance.
Reece James faces a tight race to be fit enough for England, while Kalvin Phillips could also miss out.
