Every football fan watching Venezuela vs Argentina last night would have collectively held their breath for about four minutes during the first half.
The reason being that a certain Lionel Messi was writhing around on the turf in pain after a quite shocking tackle from Adrian Martinez.
Martinez had only been on the pitch for a matter of minutes when he caught Messi’s shin with his studs. It was horrific and, after a VAR check, the defender was deservedly shown a red card.
How hurt was Messi?
At 34 years old, it’s not crazy to think that a serious leg break at this stage of his career could retire the greatest player to have played the game.
Was this how Messi was going to bow out of the beautiful game?
Lionel Messi: Can you get 20/20 on this quiz about his Barcelona career?
No chance.
After receiving some treatment Messi was soon back on his feet and, rather remarkably, completed the 90 minutes.
We’re not quite sure how but it was fantastic to see.
But the six-time Ballon d’Or winner is all too familiar with the dirty tactics employed by many of his opponents. There probably isn’t a footballer in world football that suffers as many kicks as Messi does during 90 minutes on the pitch.
In fact, there a several compilation videos containing some of the fouls Messi has received during his career - and some of them are quite shocking.
Check them out:
Video: The worst ever tackles on Lionel Messi
It really is quite astonishing how Messi hasn’t suffered a serious injury from some of the tackles on him during his career.
He really is made of different stuff from his mere mortals. And we’re so glad he is.
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