Lionel Messi ended Argentina’s dramatic encounter against Cape Verde with a nasty bruise prominently swollen on his forehead.
The evergreen 39-year-old was left battered and bruised after the thrilling 3-2 victory, having taken a painful knee to the head late in the contest.
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After opening the scoring with his seventh goal of the tournament, the Barcelona icon inspired Argentina to an extra-time triumph.
His outstanding display came despite suffering a heavy blow to the head in the closing stages of normal time, when one of his trademark dribbles ended in a collision with a Cape Verde player.
The Inter Miami captain applied an ice pack to the swollen area and completed the full 120 minutes before joining his teammates in celebrating another step toward defending the Jules Rimet trophy.
Messi feeling pain after he hit his head on the Cape Verde player 😬pic.twitter.com/WTGuPG2dUO
— ArgentineCuler (@FCB_Argentine) July 4, 2026
The injury also failed to prevent him from speaking to the media after the match, where he admitted the tense encounter was anything but straightforward.
He said: “Honestly, we already knew this was going to be a very difficult match. It wasn’t a coincidence that this team didn’t lose to Spain or Uruguay.
“Scoring the first goal was the hardest part, and we thought it would help us control the game and play with more calm, but the exact opposite happened.
“We lost possession at times, dropped a little too deep, and couldn’t press them the way we wanted. They took advantage of their strengths and found the equalizer. We knew this was always going to be a complicated game.
“These are knockout matches, nobody gives you anything for free. Some people might underestimate certain teams because of their names, but we knew this was never going to be an easy match.
“That’s what makes this World Cup so special. Everything is incredibly close, and every single game is extremely difficult.
“As always, we gave everything we had, regardless of whether we played well or didn’t produce our best football.
“Now the most important thing is to recover, focus on the next match, and take the positives from today’s game.”
