For a split second, Argentina’s final training session before the World Cup final looked like the kind of moment nobody wanted to see. Nicolás Otamendi launched into a challenge, Lionel Messi had to react quickly to avoid contact, and the brief panic was enough to remind everyone how fragile the build-up to a final can be.
According to the scene described from training, Messi got out of the way in time and the incident did not become an injury story. That is the key detail. In the tense hours before a World Cup final, even a near-miss can feel bigger than it is, especially when it involves Argentina’s biggest star and a defender who was closing in fast.
A scare, but not a setback
The important part is what did not happen. Messi avoided the challenge, and there was no indication that the moment turned into anything more serious. That made the episode less of a collision than a flash of anxiety, the kind of scare that can briefly freeze a training ground but does not alter the team’s plans.
The context adds to the weight of it. The source notes that this could have been Messi’s last training session with the national team, which gives even a routine drill an added emotional edge. When a player of that stature is involved in a close call on the eve of a final, the reaction is immediate, even if the danger passes just as quickly.
So the answer to the obvious question is simple: Messi appears to have escaped the moment unharmed. For Argentina, that is the only outcome that mattered. A World Cup final already carries enough pressure without a late training scare involving the player the entire team is built around.
