Argentina’s final training session before the World Cup final turned tense for a split second when Nicolás Otamendi lunged into a challenge on Lionel Messi and came close to making heavy contact. Messi moved just in time, the danger passed, and what might have become a disastrous collision instead faded into a brief scare around the camp.
The moment mattered because it came on the last day Argentina could least afford a problem. Messi could have been in his final training session with the national team, which made every movement in that session carry more weight than usual. A challenge from one of Argentina’s own players was the last thing anyone wanted to see when the team was this close to the final.
The near-miss also explained the reaction around Argentina. For a moment, the sight of Otamendi going in hard on Messi was enough to raise panic, even if it ended harmlessly. If the tackle had connected, the reaction would have been even sharper, with fans likely treating the incident as more than an accident and joking that Otamendi should be sent to jail.
That is what gives the episode its edge: not the collision that did not happen, but the timing. It came in the final training session before the World Cup final, with Messi at the center of everything and Argentina trying to avoid any last-minute setback. The fact that he got out of the way quickly is the only outcome that mattered, and it leaves the obvious question hanging over the eve of the final — whether this was merely a scare, or the final nervous moment before the biggest match of the tournament.
