Lionel Messi leaves Argentina squad to return to Barcelona

Argentina captain Lionel Messi will leave the national team in Russia and will not take part in their next friendly match against Nigeria. 

Therefore, it's confirmed, as expected, that the Barcelona star will only take part in one of the two planned friendlies taking place during this international break. 

"[Coach Jorge] Sampaoli decided to regulate [my minutes] a little and I won't play in the game against Nigeria," Messi said after Argentina's 1-0 win against Russia, with the only goal scored by Sergio Aguero. 

Messi insisted that "we want to go into the World Cup in the best possible way" and for that reason Sampaoli has decided to free him and manage his minutes before next summer. 

"It's good to win to keep correcting and improving things," Messi continued. "We have to strengthen the system of play that Sampaoli wants and take advantage of the time we have together. 

"The reality is that there's little time with the national team and we have to take advantage to the full of the time we do spend together and to put into practice what the coach wants." 

On Aguero's winning goal, he said: "It's nice, important, coming from [breaking the scoring record with] City. I'm happy for him. It's good to win to strengthen what we're doing."  

Messi will now return to Barça and prepare for next weekend's game against Leganes, while Argentina will begin to think of their match against Nigeria in Krasnodar.