Messi ban lifted after appeal is successful

LIONEL MESSI has had his four-match international ban for verbally abusing a match official lifted by FIFA after the Argentinian FA successfully appealed against the suspension, meaning he is eligible to play in all of their remaining 2018 World Cup qualifiers.

Messi served one of the four-game ban when he sat out Argentina’s 2-0 defeat by Bolivia on March 28, five days after he was found to have verbally abused an assistant during the 1-0 victory against Chile.

FIFA were able to take retrospective action against the Barcelona ace as he was not reported for the alleged abuse by the match referee.

The Argentinian FA appealed the ban in the hope of having Messi available for their next qualifier, against Uruguay on August 31, as well as the matches against Venezuela and Peru, with the 29-year-old due to return for their final qualifier against Ecuador.