It had been six days since Lionel Messi’s ankle grew up to almost twice its normal size. He was taken out of the Copa America final and walked onto the field at an Inter Miami game while wearing a protective boot.
Messi will be out for a while because of the injury, but he showed up live at his club team’s game to accept a plaque honoring his 45th big title win as a player for both his club and his country.
Aside from winning 45 games, Inter Miami also won its first trophy in team history last year, the Leagues Cup.
There was a standing applause for Messi when he walked out on the field. Many people had hoped to see him in Inter Miami’s signature pink jersey instead of his boots.
Even though Messi didn’t have the explosive Copa America event that many people were hoping for, Argentina still won the tournament and beat Colombia in extra time in the final on Sunday.
Lionel Messi went out in public for the first time since the Copa America Final on Saturday.
Messi was wearing a safety boot around his hurt ankle at an Inter Miami game.
Messi’s problems and his real duties as captain have been overshadowed by what’s been going on off the field since the Copa America.
Enzo Fernandez, a star player for Chelsea and Argentina, was caught singing a racist chant on the team bus after the win.
Fernandez has since apologized in a number of ways, and he is likely to face punishment. He wasn’t on the bus when the accident happened.
At the same time, the chant has made Argentina’s third big tournament win in less than three years look bad.
La Nacion says that Julio Garro, who works for Argentine president Javier Milei, told Messi and Claudio “Chiqui” Tapia to officially apologize for how some of the South American champions behaved.
But Garro has strongly rejected since then that he asked Messi to say sorry.
Messi hasn’t said anything public about Fernandez’s actions yet.
