Lionel Messi is confirmed to be in the Argentina squad for the 2023 Asian tour. This means that the former Barcelona player has the possibility of playing against the Indonesian national team. The Indonesian national team will indeed face Argentina in a series of trial matches on the June 2023 edition of the FIFA Matchday. The Indonesian vs Argentina national team match on the FIFA Matchday schedule rolls around at the Gelora Bung Karno Main Stadium (SUGBK), Senayan, Jakarta, Monday (19/6/2023) ).
Moreover, Messi has actually painted his mark in Southeast Asia. He has visited Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. Lionel Messi even showed his light when defending Barcelona in a pre-season match against Thailand XI in Bangkok on August 7 2013. Based on the Daily Mail report, Lionel Messi managed to score two goals against Thailand XI in front of 48,000 supporters in the 13th (penalty) and 25th minutes. The other six Barcelona goals were scored by Neymar (11′), Pedro (19, 35′, 47′) and Alexis Sanchez (49′).
After that, still on Barcelona’s pre-season tour, Messi came to Malaysia in August 2013. At that time, he defended the Barcelona banner to play against Malaysia XI. However, the Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) player failed to show his skills against Malaysia, despite receiving applause from the home fans.
Lionel Messi fan from Malaysia, Aaron Balachandran, had expressed his disappointment that La Pulga did not play. “At least he can acknowledge our existence. We shouted his name throughout the game,” said Aaron quoted from Malay Mail.
According to the Malay Mail report, Messi did not complete against the Malaysia XI due to an injury during the training session. “Messi came out of the locker room wearing sandals and sat with the rest of the team on the sidelines during the match,” the Malay Mail reported. “It was widely reported that the player (Messi) suffered an injury during a training session at the National Stadium,” wrote Malay Mail. Barcelona’s official statement at the time stated that Messi had suffered a left thigh muscle injury.
Meanwhile, Messi’s visit to other Southeast Asian countries was when Argentina came to Singapore. At that time, Argentina managed to crush Singapore with a score of 6-0 at the National Stadium on 13 June 2017.
The Singapore vs Argentina match was held as an event to commemorate the 125th anniversary of Singapore’s Football Association. However, the steps towards the match were not entirely smooth because Lionel Messi and Gonzalo Higuain failed to appear. The information appeared only a few days before the fight.
