Lionel Messi set to miss Spain v Argentina friendly after Barcelona star suffers minor hamstring injury

                           

Lionel Messi is set to miss Argentina's international friendly on Tuesday night with a hamstring injury, according to reports.

The Barcelona star was an unused substitute in his country's 2-0 victory over Italy in a friendly at Manchester City's Etihad Stadium on Friday night.It had therefore been expected that he would feature against Spain, however it is now reported a slight injury means he will not be risked.

According to Marca, Messi will not feature in the game, to be played at Atletico Madrid's Wanda Metropolitano, due to 'muscle fatigue'.His hamstring is said to have flared up on Monday night, after Messi came through training sessions on the previous two days without trouble.It is thought he will not be played as a precautionary measure, rather than because the injury is severe, and that he should be fit for Barcelona when they face Roma in the Champions League quarter finals next week.It had previously appeared Messi would play in the game, with both he and manager Jorge Sampaoli confirming as much after the Italy win.

Sampaoli said: 'Messi trained with the group normally so he is available to play.' Messi added: 'My idea is to play against Spain, I just need to see how I feel after the last training session.'Messi's absence could be an opportunity for Juventus forward Paulo Dybala, after he admitted it was difficult for the pair to play together.After the game against Italy he told Fox Sports: 'I spoke to Paulo, what he said is the truth. I understood exactly what he meant. At Juventus he plays just like me, we look for the same spaces.'Alongside me in the national team he had to play more on the left, maybe he's not so used to that.'It is harder for us to play there, I rarely venture down the left-hand side. On the right we can cut inside and we have the whole pitch in front of us.'