Captain Lionel Messi "is beaten and sad" by FIFA's suspension that will prevent him from playing today against Bolivia in La Paz, revealed the national selections secretary, Jorge Miadosqui.

"Messi is beaten and sad, just like all of us here. We don't agree with how this was handled," declared the leader of the Argentine Football Association (AFA) in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, where the Argentine team stayed before traveling to La Paz for the match with Bolivia.

"They cut not only Messi's legs but the entire Argentine national team," warned Miadosqui, recalling the phrase of the star Diego Maradona when he was suspended for doping in the 1994 World Cup in the United States.

The leader, president of the San Martín de San Juan club, considered that "Messi should have played because the punishment doesn't correspond." "We lost a very important player in the national team," he regretted.

The Argentine captain and forward will miss four matches of the South American qualifiers for the 2018 FIFA World Cup for a sanction imposed for insulting an assistant referee in the 1-0 victory over Chile on Thursday in Buenos Aires, announced FIFA today.

The first match will be played today against Bolivia. Messi will also be unable to play against Uruguay, Venezuela, and Peru. He will return in Argentina's last match of the South American qualifiers, against Ecuador.