The last two weeks have been great for Lionel Messi’s frequent-flier account. But for his mind and body? Not so much.
First there was the Copa del Rey final in Spain, where the Argentina national team star played an exhausting 120 minutes for Barcelona — which won the game but lost star striker Luis Suarez to a hamstring injury.
Five days and a 13-hour flight later, Messi was lying face up on a soccer field in Argentina after taking a knee to his torso during a friendly with Honduras. He hobbled off to the hospital, where tests revealed he had “significant bone and soft-tissue contusion” — which was good news, because doctors originally feared he had sustained a fracture.