Lionel Messi, with hamstring issues, did not train with Argentina

Is it time to sound the alarms in the Argentine camp in Qatar? Judging by the latest news coming out of the country hosting the World Cup, that might be the case as Lionel Messi seems to be nurturing a hamstring injury ahead of the final.

Messi, who had some hamstring problems in the Argentina semi-finals match against Croatia, did not take part in Argentina's training on Thursday, according to Ferran Martinez from Spanish newspaper Mundo Deportivo.

The Argentina no. 10 didn't train ahead of the final with mere hours separating Thursday's session from Sunday's kick-off in their meeting with France in Lusail.

The training, scheduled for the morning of Thursday in the Qatar University ground, only featured players who didn't start the game against Croatia along with Angel Di Maria, who missed the game entirely because of injury. That said, some of those playing from the start in Argentina's last game also featured in the session.

Lionel Messi didn't train with Argentina on Thursday while retired Kun Aguero took part in it

Sergio "Kun" Aguero was also part of the training mob, joining his fellow Argentines on the pitch to play some football even though he was forced to retire from competitive football a few months ago with health issues.

Aguero has set camp in Qatar with the Argentine contingent this December boosting their morale on a game-to-game basis and streaming his pre- and post-game thoughts to those interested in knowing more about the inner works of Argentina's national squad and their camp.

After the game against Croatia, Messi said that he had indeed suffered some hamstring issues on his left leg, which was visible as he grabbed hold of his leg through the semi-finals match.

While the extent of the injury is unknown, Messi is not expected to miss any time and will be part of Argentina's starting XI to face France on Sunday.