The Argentina boss says he will wait until the last minute before deciding if his side's talisman has recovered from a foot injury to face Ecuador

Argentina coach Gerardo Martino has said he will not risk playing Lionel Messi against Ecuador unless he is fully fit.

The Barcelona star missed his country's 2-0 win over El Salvador on Friday after sitting out training the day before because of a foot injury.

And the coach insists he will wait until the very last minute before deciding on whether his talisman should play in Tuesday's encounter.

"We’re not going to risk Messi," the coach told reporters in a press conference. "If the injury stays the same, he won't play because we want to look after him.

"But while we don't have any expectation that it will get better, we will wait until the last minute to decide if he will play.”

"In the first training session, Messi was fine, but in the second he felt some discomfort. We waited up until the last minute but he didn’t improve, so we decided he should not play.

"The doctors showed us the images of his scans and there was nothing there. But later on, his foot began to swell."