Messi up against son of ex-teammate in Iceland friendly

 Imagine playing against unarguably the greatest footballer of this generation and then telling him after the match that your father had played alongside him!

That’s exactly what happened during Argentina’s friendly against Iceland on Tuesday which the reigning World Cup champions won 3-0. Following the match, Lionel Messi, who scored moments after coming off the bench, had a long conversation with a young Iceland player who told him that the Argentine superstar and his dad used to be teammates at Barcelona.

For those not in the know, Messi’s Icelandic teammate at Barcelona was Eidur Gudjohnsen and on Tuesday, the latter’s 20-year-old son Daniel Tristan was on the pitch against Messi.

It was a moment to savour for the Malmo FF youngster and after a conversation and a hug, he also got to keep Messi’s coveted jersey. 

On the pitch, Messi’s cameo dispelled any injury doubts and helped Argentina win their final warm-up game.

The 38-year-old had not featured for Argentina in the build-up to their title defence after injuring a hamstring playing for Inter Miami in late May.

He came on as a substitute with 20 minutes left to huge applause from a capacity 88,000 crowd against Iceland in Auburn, Alabama, and his clever through ball played in Lautaro Martinez, who was fouled in the box.

Messi, who drove Argentina to their third World Cup crown in Qatar four years ago, lashed in the penalty as the reigning champions eased to a win.

Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni named an experimental starting line-up against Iceland, with Julian Alvarez, Enzo Fernandez and Alexis Mac Allister joining Messi on the sidelines initially.

Messi is set to feature in his sixth World Cup and allayed fears he may not be ready with a supreme 20-minute cameo.