(Beijing) Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni said on Wednesday that Lionel Messi “deserved” to “have fun” at Inter Miami, the MLS club that the seven-time Ballon d’Or will join.

“I am very happy that he (Messi) has decided to go and play for a club in a city that will treat him very well,” the world champions’ coach said at a press conference in Beijing. the day before a friendly match between Argentina and Australia.

“It doesn’t matter the league or the country, the important thing is that he feels good in the city and in the club,” the 45-year-old coach said of the Argentine star, who revealed in the Spanish press, his difficulties adapting to Parisian life during his two seasons at Paris SG.

“I’m sure he will have the conditions there to have fun. He deserves it “.

Lionel Messi said in an interview broadcast by Chinese media on Tuesday that the World Cup played last year in Qatar was probably the last of his career.

Asked by the Titan Sports newspaper about the possibility of seeing him play the 2026 World Cup jointly organized by Canada, Mexico and the United States, the former Barça and Paris SG striker was reserved.

“I’ve said it many times before, I don’t think so,” he insisted. “It was my last World Cup” in Qatar last year.

Lionel Scaloni said Wednesday that Messi’s statements were “very cautious”.

“He is a man who does not lie. The reality is we’ll see how he feels” in 2026 when the “Pulga” will be 39 years old, he said.

“The World Cup is still so far away that it doesn’t really make sense to say anything else. »

Messi, who landed in China on Saturday, will lead the reigning world champions against the Socceroos at the newly refurbished 68,000-capacity Workers’ Stadium in Beijing on Thursday.

The match will be a rematch of the 2022 World Cup Round of 16, where Messi scored in Argentina’s 2-1 win in Doha.