Argentina and superstar Lionel Messi arrived in Qatar for the World Cup early on Thursday, just hours after a 5-0 warm-up victory.
Messi, 35, has a sackful of trophies but the tournament in Qatar is likely to be his final chance to equal the achievement of fellow Argentine great Diego Maradona in leading his country to World Cup glory.
He landed with the Argentina squad in the Qatari capital Doha at 2:30am (2330 GMT, Wednesday) from Abu Dhabi where they had beaten the United Arab Emirates 5-0 in a friendly in which Messi scored.
Argentina extend their unbeaten run to 36 matches with a 5-0 win vs. UAE 🇦🇷
Two games away from beating Italy’s record pic.twitter.com/MZGzEtkC7H
— B/R Football (@brfootball) November 16, 2022
One of the favourites going into this year’s World Cup, the South Americans will begin their campaign on Tuesday against Saudi Arabia in Group C, which also includes Mexico and Poland.
The 1978 and 1986 World Cup winners extended their unbeaten run to 36 matches as Messi scored his 91st international goal.
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Messi was cautious about the team’s chances in Qatar, even though they are among the favourites.
“We have a very nice group that is very eager, but we think about going little by little.
“We know that World Cup groups are not easy,” the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner said in an interview with CONMEBOL, the South American football federation.
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