Messi arrives to a country in revolt

The Peru-Argentina game is the least of Peru's worries in the coming days. The country has been plunged into a serious social and political crisis that has even left people dead and hundreds injured in the latest demonstrations, the World Cup qualifying match once again made it clear that football can handle anything.

Not even all these problems and the great anger against the authorities prevented many Peruvians from coming to see the 'Albiceleste' arrive at their concentrations hotel.

To give you an idea of the crisis in Peru, in just one week there have been three presidents. Francisco Sagasti, Ángel Vizcarra and the interim president Manuel Merino.

Regardless of all these problems, the Peruvian national team has already played other national teams in other countries. It says it wants to bring joy to the Peruvian people and make them forget some of the pain.

"We work to give people joy, but don't involve us in an issue that we have nothing to do with," Gareca made clear.

The coach, who was born in Argentina, acknowledged that Peru's plan is, as always, to stop Messi, although he will not mark him individually. Scaloni also spoke of the star: "I see Leo well, he has no problem. He is happy. That is important. At performance level, he had a good game at Paraguay".

The Barca star will, as always, take centre stage in the match. The objective will be to come away with a win for Peru, although it may not be the country's most pressing issue at the moment...