Lionel MESSI misses Argentina training in Madrid

By
Roy Nemer
-
59
Lionel Messi Javier Mascherano Argentina
Lionel Messi Javier Mascherano Argentina

Lionel MESSI missed Argentina’s training session in Madrid ahead of the match against Spain while Jorge SAMPAOLI’s staff was spread all across the world.

When Argentina take the pitch on Tuesday in Madrid, it’ll be against the 2010 FIFA World Cup holders and one of the favorites for the tournament in Russia. Following the team’s 2-0 win against Italy in Manchester in Friday, the squad took a flight Saturday morning to Madrid to train at Real Madrid’s training facilities.

Three names were absent from the session on Saturday and they were Lionel MESSI, Sergio AGUERO and Angel DI MARIA (who suffered a muscle injury in his right leg during the match against Italy).

Jorge SAMPAOLI had staff members spread out in Europe and in North America. One was in attendance to watch Iceland against Mexico (Iceland lost 3-0) while there was another in attendance to watch Croatia lose 2-0 against Peru. Lionel SCALONI attended Germany’s 1-1 draw against Spain.

As for Spain, David SILVA left the Spanish squad due to personal reasons and will not play on Tuesday against Argentina.

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59 Comments

  3. Jorge Sampaoli stopped the following eleven against spain: Nahuel Guzmán; Gabriel Mercado, Ramiro Funes Mori, Marcos Rojo, Marcos Acuña; Pablo Pérez, Javier Mascherano; Maximiliano Meza, Ángel Correa, Diego Perotti; Lautaro Martínez.

    This would be good test..nice to seethis team how it performs

    • This is the B team, the others will start: Caballero/Romero—Bustos-Otamendi-Fazio-Tagliafico—Paredes-Biglia-Lo Celso—Lanzini-Higuain-Messi

  4. I’ve never seen Di Maria injured playing at club that often. But for us he seems to pick up injuries every time the national team called him lately.

    • brother,i think becoz messi is really commited to his work ,the reason he always gives 100%,we think it’s easy becoz still he has immense passion for this game.

  7. Messi, Di Maria and Aguero all out injured? Sounds familiar.

    Sampaoli! Call Dybala now! Quick!

    I guess the lineup against Spain will be:

    Caballero

    Bustos Otamendi Fazio Tagliafico

    Biglia Mascherano

    Lanzini Lo Celso Perotti

    Higuain

    My preferred lineup:

    Caballero

    Bustos Otamendi Fazio Tagliafico

    Lo Celso Mascherano

    Dybala Banega A. Correa

    L.Martinez

  8. what u guys think about mascherano is he can still be a starter and repeat his immense performances for argentina in wc 14?? or he is not good enough now??

    • I believe he is still one of the best defensive midfielder(though he is average as a center back) in the world. He should replace biglia

      My team for WC 2018(4-3-3)

      Caballero

      Mercado Otamendi Fazio/Mori tiagli

      Banega Masche Lo celso

      Messi Di maria

      Aguero

      • Lets see we are hearing reports mascherano will start in place of biglia Tuesday we will see how good he is right now I strongly believe we will loose this match.Spain is too strong to be honest.iniesta isco thiago alba carvajal costa pique Ramos wow what a side just they r not super in strike force bt still without messi aguero dimaria and we r still building the team so its too tough for us.Argentina defence will also be tested just like Nigeria this matches important to judge your weaknesses and which players to choose

        • If lautaro martinez starts against Spain in place of Higuain …..
          We may win
          As there is no dybala no icardi then at least try Lautaro.M

          Let’s take the gamble as we are preparing for #wc-russia2018..

    • I saw the last few matches Mascherano playing for Barca, to me, he is still more than good enough to play for Barca now, he can hold the ball very well and make vital forward passes.

      I think he quitted Barca for HeBei because he prefers to play as a DM rather than a CB.

      He always gives 500% to Argentina, thats why I think he should start instead of Paredes and Biglia.

      Btw, I am using Masche as my avatar does not mean that I am subjective to Masche.
      .

        • Actually this Spain friendly is more important for paredes as he got a start after a very long time and wasn’t at his best last game it is another chance to impress.most probably Argentina will play two holding midfielder in WC also and in this spot competition is fierce.one place is booked for biglia/masche.for another spot competition will be between banega/paredes/locelso/ Pablo perez/ enzo Perez or mayb 1-2 other candidates also can be evaluated.

  10. My team vs Spain formation-4-2-3-1
    gk -caballero(should start in WC too.better than Romero good with feet and best for sampoli system)
    Bustos Otamendi Rojo Acuna. Banega Mascherano.
    Lanzini Lo celso Perroti
    Higuain

  11. sources says messi out from spain friendly.mascherano may play in place of biglia.romero in place of caballero and some minutes for guzman.banega may also starts

    • messi shld put his foot down & only play Champions League & Copa Del Rey finals . La Liga is clearly done & pls stay out of next 8 matches ( except Classico) . Let Dembele , Coutinho ,Paulinho & Ineista take that fwd . Its sad that we cant have messi playing in the friendlies which could have given a good picture on the team chemistry post changes.

      • its a good thing he dont play this games he get some needed rest plus we cant field the strongest 11 is a blessing in disguise as we may play spain in quarters so they will struggle to strategize against us .better to loose now than to loose in quarters

  12. 1st training argentina played in 4-2-3-1 with this players
    romero
    mercado funes mori rojo acuna
    mascherano pablo perez
    perotti correa meza
    lautaro martinez

  13. IMO reality is this. We will go with 3-7-8-5 ( GK-Def-MF-Fw) for final 23. Following players have sealed spot
    GK – Romero , Cabellero , GK3
    Def – Bustos , Otamendi , Fazio , Tagliafico, Mercado , DF6, DF7
    MF – Lanzini , Biglia, Banega , Di Maria , Masche, MF6, MF7, MF8
    FW – Messi , Aguero, FW3, FW4, FW5
    So 9 spots to be filled
    GK- Gauzman ( anyway no time to evaluate & third goalie wont be vital)
    DEF – Rojo will make be DF6 as he can be both LCB or LB. DF7 can be Funes ( if he proves fitness ) or Pezella. So DEF Summary is Funes vs Pezella ( My vote is for Pezella )
    MF – Backup LM will be Acuna vs Perotti . I think Acuna will go thru considering his ability to also be LB. MF7 will be between Parades & Lo Celso & based on last game Lo Celso has an edge. MF8 will be RM/RW . Pavon & ACorrea will compete with Sampaoli preference seeming to be Pavon. I though will prefer ACorrea as he is more proven & defensively also better. Maybe its too late for Meza & Pablo Perez considering Lanzini & Banega show against Italy
    FW – For all the rightful clamour for Icardi , unfortunately FW3 will be Higuaín( ” Messi’s team “) . FW4 will be Lautaro sheerly for his reputation of talent & considering Aguero fitness. FW5 i am hoping will be Dybala though Sampaoli may end up filling this position with Perroti or Pavon

    So in Spain game , more than winning – Sampaoli should give following chance for final clarity – Funes Mori, Parades ( one more chance pls!) , Meza ( outside chance for MF7), ACorrea, Acuna ( as LM ), Lautaro

      • good point. Lamela if he comes will be in expense of Pavon/Correa. But Sampaoli not calling him now also is an indication he is out of contention unless injury strikes someone.

    • Makes sense your list, I think almost the same. Here’s my thoughts:

      DF6: should be Rojo in any case, like you said, he’s similar to Mercado and can play in 2 different positions.

      DF7: I think it’ll be Acuna, he’ll be selected as LB instead of midfielder and he will be in the starting XI. Funes’s selection is to test the player if any of the CB is injured.

      MF6: As I put Acuna as LB, I think Perotti will be the man, even though personally I prefer Papu Gomez, Cervi and Joaquin Correa. Especially the last one, he can also play as forward.

      MF7: Lo Celso, agreed. Samp seems to be very patient with him. He wants him to be a top midfielder and plays the central role of his ball possession style system.

      MF8: the competition will be tough: Meza, Salvio, Angel Correa and Pavon. If I have to choose one, it will be Pavon too. But Salvio is such a hard worker and Angel Correa is having his best season.

      FW3: Higuain, true, Samp does not want to take risk, he may prefer more experienced player.

      FW4: Actually I will rather sacrifice this place for 1 more midfielder like Enzo Perez.

      FW5: Dybala is a must, he can score within short time. His freekick is almost as good as Messi. He has the killer instinct and he feels the game, to me, the modern version of Michel Platini.

      In such a high level competition, it’s important to have versatile players able to play in several positions for backup solutions, I see quite a lot of this kind of players in the list:

      Rojo(LFB or LCB)
      Mercado(RFB or RCB)
      Lo Celso(CM, DM, AM)
      Acuna(LFB, LW)
      Di Maria(LW, RW, AM)
      Lanzini(LW, RW, AM)
      Maschereno(DM, CB)
      Biglia(DM, CM)
      Angel Correa(LW, RW, FWD)
      Joaquin Correa(LM, FWD): even not in the list

    • GK 1 ROMERO 2 CABELLERO 3 GUZMAN

      DF 1 OTAMENDI 2 FAZIO 3 ACUNA 4 ROJO 5 BUSTOS 6 MERCADO 7 TAGLIAFICO

      MF 1 BANEGA 2 LOCELSO 3 LANZINI 4 BIGLIA 5 A.CORREA 6 DIMARIA 7 PEROTTI 8 MASCHE

      FW 1 MESSI 2 DYBALA 3 AGUERO 4 HIGUAIN 5 ICARDI

  14. You can see, that when Banega got in the pitch, he immediately took the team in his hands. every player started to pass the ball to him, they know that he is important. We can try a 3 in middle, with Banega, Lanzini and Paredes. what do you think?

    • i think once Messi is back , it will be 4-4-2. So Biglia or Masche is a must for 4th midfielder. I didn’t see Parades being defensively very strong or fast in Italy game. Parades & Banega together will make our midfield not very defensively strong.

      • mascherano all the way he most probably start or get some minute in spain friendly.sampa will see how his physical condition is right now then will decide who to play in wc games

  15. Game critics on different broadcast channels made fun of Sampaoli’s erratic philosophy of excluding Dybala due to adaptation crap. Everyone mentioned the exact same logic: What if messi is injured before or during the WC, or arrives with fatigue? Who’s his replacement? Dybala can be benched at least so he can change the game, adds flair, or takes on Messi’s role when the latter is unfit.

    • doesnt matter if dybala dropped then he will be blasted from top to bottom and if arg doesnt do well then he may not enter argentina for some substantial time

  16. A lot of you fans, are prioritizing player selection over team performance. We should be happy that the team has finally been able to put together a decent performance without Messi, and that’s something we haven’t seen in quite sometimes. Yet, everyone is preoccupied asking for Dybala and Icardi.

    Soo y’all want for Sampaoli to bring them even if they don’t fit, and hope that it magically work at the WC?

    • performance was mediocre not spectacular.many places to improve.it was just a friendly agianst a side not in wc and a worst italian side i have ever seen.i dont get excited seeing this performance.some positives but still nothing to boast about

    • During the first half, all I saw was back passes to Caballero. Biglia was losing the ball so easily, Diva with his headless thinking, and even Lanzini had limited role and failed to tackle on multiple ocassions. Can’t remember Higuaín touched the ball during the first 30 min of the game. Again I wouldn’t judge the team on a friendly game against a team has no business in the upcoming event, but I look ahead and see what Sampaoli has as a plan B? what other options would he bring to the world cup? If his agenda says Messi from A to Z, then that will be a disastrous scheme let me tell you.

      • What I’m saying is it was still a step forward from the previous matches when the likes of Dybala and Icardi played for us. But then again, you guys aren’t looking at it that way. You guys think that having these two would have made Argentina 10 times better, when it hasn’t in the past.

        This Argentina team needed players that can move the ball around which we’ve found in Paredes, Lanzini, and Lo Celso, full backs which we’ve gotten from Tagliafico and Bustos. That’s a major step forward. Now give the man some times to finish building his team.

    • Paredes should start again for Spain friendly also lanzini and bustos and tagliafico Romero should play.I really want lamela to be picked for Russia ahead of perotti.if dimaria gets injured in Russia he will be perfect replacement

  18. Banega and Enzo Perez should be deep lying midfielder not Biglia.Enzo is good at attacking and defending.4-2-3-1 seems best.Germany always goes with 4-2-3-1.

    • If this same problem appears in Russia
      It will be clever-minded to have Dybala and icardi there
      At least on bench…..
      Messi dimaria aguero not playing
      So sampaoli should have called icardi dybala even j.correa

  20. I knew Barca coach is grinding Messi. Without Messi, Barca look toothless. Look at Jordi alba, now Messi started to move closer to central, he seems to be useless than earlier when he was top assist man. I think messi needs to be smarter, he has enough time to win two more trebles with Barca than World cup for arg. However good news is Barca coach is grinding other barca players as well like iniesta, jordi alba, Busquets which could be helpful if Arg. meet Spain in somewhere in the competition.

  22. Just by watching 1-2 games u cant do anything u need to watch a set of matches of ur opponent to make note about them

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