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By Graham Ruthven (@grahamruthven)

On the face of things Lionel Messi had very little to play for against Bolivia on Tuesday evening. Argentina had already qualified for the last 16 of the Copa America Centenario, with their final group game a dead rubber. But meaning is always attached when Messi takes to the field. He always has something to play for.

Indeed, every display turned in by Messi - arguably the greatest player of his generation - is picked and pored over, with his observers looking for deeper meaning and insight with every turn he makes, every pass he completes and every goal he scores. It was the same against Bolivia.

What did his appearance in such a fixture say about his fitness, which has been under intense scrutiny over the course of the tournament? Tata Martino could have rested his best and most important player against Bolivia, but by fielding him he opting to give him more game-time ahead of the latter rounds. 

Argentina will now face Venezuela in the quarter-finals on Saturday as they attempt to finally deliver the silverware that has evaded them for so long. But what would success in the Copa America Centenario mean for Messi’s international legacy? Sticking with a common thread, plenty will be drawn from how he and his team does in the USA over the next two weeks.

"We have ended the group stage as we wanted, topping the group," the playmaker said following Argentina’s win over Bolivia. "We won the three games well. Now another Copa starts. The difficult games are coming now.”

He’s not wrong, although Brazil’s exit from the group stage of the tournament has cleared the way somewhat for La Albiceleste. They are outright favourites to lift the trophy on June 26 in East Rutherford, with Martino’s side handed a favourable draw against Venezuela in the final eight. Although Messi is wary of looking too far ahead.

"Venezuela are seen as an easy team, but it is not like that," Messi continued, previewing Friday’s quarter-final clash. "Just the opposite. We know all that we are playing for. This group of players is stronger than ever. We all want to win the Copa America.”

Messi wants to win the Copa America more than most, though. Whilst he has achieved everything in the club game, more than once, he is yet to sample success with Argentina. He has come so close in years gone by, reaching the final of the competition as well as the World Cup, but in every instance that one career-defining triumph has evaded him.

His chances of international success have never looked so good, though. But does it matter that this year’s field at the Copa America is significantly weaker? Brazil are out, with a number of key figures - including Neymar - skipping the tournament in order to rest up instead this summer. Would that diminish Messi’s glory should it come his way?

There will always be those who wish to knock down every achievement of Messi’s. They claim he only succeeds because Barcelona are built around him as a team. That everything at the Camp Nou is set up for the little Argentine to play well, and that he has it easy in Spain against a lower caliber of opposition. Of course, all this is little more than sheer ignorance. He can only beat whoever is put in front of him, and so a Copa America triumph 

Messi is a true great of the game and has nothing left to prove, despite his lack of international silverware in his trophy cabinet. However, he could finally quell the one question still asked of him by taking Argentina all the way in the United States this summer. His critics will always find some sort of qualification. That should matter not to him