Leandro Paredes visits Argentina's camp while banned

Leandro Paredes was at Argentina's training base in Ezeiza on Tuesday 29 September 2026, and he was not there as a player. He is serving a 10-match FIFA ban from the World Cup final, and he is not in the squad for Bolivia, Burkina Faso or Benin. He came in civilian clothes, spoke with Lionel Scaloni, and left the teamsheet exactly as it was. The Benin friendly, Messi's farewell, is still on Tuesday 6 October at 20:00 in Buenos Aires, 23:00 UTC.

What happened at the session

Argentina trained at Ezeiza for the last time before the trip to Córdoba. The first friendly of the window, against Bolivia, is on Wednesday 30 September at 21:00 at the Mario Alberto Kempes. Paredes, who captains Boca, was an extra face at that session. He was not in the practice kit. He was there to see the group and to talk to the coach. Pictures from the base show him with Scaloni beside the pitch.

That is a visit, not a recall. A banned player can stand on the touchline of a training ground. He cannot be named in a match. FIFA's ban is what keeps him off the list. A conversation at Ezeiza does not pause it. Anyone who reads the photographs as a late call-up is ahead of the paper. The squad list for this window does not include him, and Scaloni said in the same breath that Argentina cannot count on him for these games.

The ban, and the appeal

The suspension is 10 matches. It comes from the incidents after the 2026 World Cup final against Spain. Nahuel Molina was given seven matches from the same night. Roberto Ayala, of the coaching staff, was sanctioned too. The Argentine federation has appealed those bans. An appeal is a request. It is not a result. Until a shorter number is published, the number on the record for Paredes is 10, and the number for Molina is seven.

Ten matches is a long hole in a national-team calendar. These three friendlies would have been the obvious place to start serving it, or to keep serving it, depending on how the count is applied. Scaloni did not offer a remaining tally. He said the length was beside the point for this week: they cannot use him now. This site will not invent how many of the 10 are left. If the appeal cuts the ban, that is a new fact, and it belongs in the first paragraph. It has not happened.

What Paredes said before he walked in

The visit was not a whim invented on the morning. Earlier in the week, after a Boca session, he said he had not spoken to the coach yet and that he would probably stop by the training ground to say hello and see how things were. He also changed the tone he had used at the start of September. Then, he had said it would be difficult to carry on, because of what he had said at the time, because of the ban, and because of Messi's decision to stop. This week he said he feels part of the group that is there, and that if he were not banned he would be with them.

Those are two different sentences, and both can be true. Feeling part of the group is not the same as being selected. "If I were not banned, I would be there" is his reading of the coach's trust. It is not Scaloni naming him in a squad. The ban is the reason the second half of the sentence stays hypothetical. He can feel available. The list cannot include him while the suspension stands.

What Scaloni said

In the press conference before that session, Scaloni was asked about him and answered as if the door had never been shut. Paredes belongs to the national team, he said, because of what he has given it. He called him a historic player and said the affection is real. He also said he had not spoken to him again, because there was not much to add, and that he had not had that talk with the others either. The doors are open. They will not be able to count on him for these matches. What happened was not right, whatever the number of games FIFA attached to it. When he is available, and if he is still at this level, he is a very good player.

The order matters. That answer came before the pictures. The "I have not spoken to him" line is not a denial of the chat that happened afterwards at the session. It is a description of the days before Tuesday. By the end of the session they had been seen talking. A hello at Ezeiza is the visit Paredes had already said he might make. It is not a private agreement to ignore a FIFA ban.

What this does not change for Benin

Bolivia, Burkina Faso and Benin are all inside the ban. Paredes will not start any of them, and he will not come off the bench. The team news for the farewell is still Messi, De Paul, Lo Celso and Otamendi held for 6 October, with Almada and Foyth out injured, and Molina out for his own suspension. Paredes is a fourth absence of a different kind: not injured, not omitted by choice, not available.

It also does not put him in the guest list for the homage in the way the 2022 squad were invited to attend as champions. He was at a training session three days before the first friendly, not confirmed for a seat at the Monumental on 6 October. If he is in the stands that night, that will be a separate fact. Nothing said on Tuesday booked it. Dybala and Molina are already not travelling for that event. Paredes was not part of that Roma note. His club is Boca, and his obstacle is the ban, not a flight from Italy.

The useful line for a reader who only wants the Benin team is short. Paredes is not in it. Scaloni has said the door is open for a later window, if the ban is done and the level is still there. That later window is not this one. The squad list for Benin does not need a new name because of a conversation at Ezeiza.

Questions people ask

Conclusion

Leandro Paredes was at Argentina's Ezeiza base on 29 September, in civilian clothes, and he talked with Lionel Scaloni. He is still banned for 10 matches. He is not in the squad for Bolivia, Burkina Faso or the Benin farewell on 6 October. The appeal is in. No shorter ban has been announced. The visit shows he still feels part of the group. It does not put him on the teamsheet.

Read also: Lionel Messi is set for his Argentina farewell against Benin