Argentina head coach Lionel Scaloni usually demands that individuals regularly feature for their club to be considered for the national team, before emphasizing Lionel Messi's case is "different."
Those comments came on Monday, a day ahead of Argentina's Conmebol World Cup qualifier against Peru and four days after Argentina fell 2-1 to Paraguay at the Estadio Defensores del Chaco, just the second loss for Scaloni's side during the qualification cycle.
"We need them to play," Scaloni said of players in his squad. "These six games [in qualification] were very close to each other after the Copa América.