Lionel Messi\u2019s fitness has once again become a major talking point ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup after Inter Miami confirmed that the Argentine superstar has suffered a muscle strain in his left hamstring.<\/p>\n
The MLS club released an official statement confirming that Messi underwent additional medical tests, which revealed the injury. According to the update, his return to training will depend on his \u201cclinical and functional progress in the coming days.\u201d While no exact timeline has been provided, the development has raised concerns among fans and football experts with the World Cup now less than two years away.<\/p>\n
Messi, who led Argentina to glory at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, remains central to his nation\u2019s long-term plans despite his advancing age. At 38 by the time the 2026 tournament begins in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, managing his fitness will be crucial if he is to feature in what could be his final appearance on football\u2019s biggest stage.<\/p>\n
This injury setback comes at a time when Messi has been carefully balancing club duties with international commitments. Inter Miami have relied heavily on their captain this season, with his influence both on and off the pitch continuing to shape the club\u2019s ambitions in Major League Soccer and continental competitions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Lionel Messi\u2019s fitness has once again become a major talking point ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup after Inter\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":202,"featured_media":37327,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[3686,1823,4049,3796,1303,3648,487,4780,3570],"class_list":["post-44033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football","tag-david-ornstein","tag-fabrizio-romano","tag-fifa-world-cup-2026","tag-football","tag-injury","tag-inter-miami","tag-lionel-messi","tag-messi-injury","tag-world-cup-2026"],"reading_time":"2 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44033","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/202"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44033"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44033\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44034,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44033\/revisions\/44034"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37327"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}