The Argentine FA lost almost 500,000 euros due to Messi absence against Morocco

Argentina will not only lose out from a footballing point of view in their friendly against Morocco on Wednesday, but also financially. The absence of their star man, Lionel Messi, means that the Moroccan Football Federation will only pay them 550,000 euros.

Morocco will take on Argentina in a friendly tomorrow at 20:00 CET. According to the Moroccan daily newspaper, Al Ahdaz al Magrebiya, their FA will deduct 450,000 euros from what they would have paid the Argentinian Football Federation had Messi featured.

The contract for the friendly clearly stipulated that the Argentina captain would be required to play for at least 70 minutes of the encounter. It is important to remember that the Barcelona legend left the national setup last Saturday after picking up a slight knock in his side's defeat to Venezuela at the Estadio Wanda Metropolitano.