Lucas Ocampos of Sevilla spoke about playing alongside Lionel Messi, the Argentina national team and more.
Ocampos has been part of the Argentina national team since the end of last year. Taking part in the last few matches, he has made the most of it. Speaking in an interview with Planeta (FM 94.7), the Sevilla man spoke about how he has enjoyed playing with Lionel Messi, how the Argentina captain surprised him and more. Here’s what he had to say:
“We had already played before, Sevilla vs. Barcelona. I was just in line and he told me: “Hi Lucas, how are you?” We spoke a little. I have a very good relationship with Ever Banega and he is his friend.
“After that, before the match vs. Germany he told me “Do it, this is your chance”. He spoke to me a bit. If someone doesn’t know him, you don’t know how he is, if he will talk to you… He surprised me when we were with the Argentina team. He’s just another one of the guys.”
About if it’s difficult being his team mate on the pitch:
“I understand the one’s who said that. It’s true. He is always one step ahead. But it’s not that it’s complicated to play with him. It’s complicated for you to try to do the things that he wants. For me, it came out really well because my play is more vertical, to go to the empty spaces.
“In the games we played, all the runs I made, he saw. He puts the ball between the full back and the center back. I enjoyed it a lot. Playing with players who have that vision of play, you enjoy it.”
About Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni giving him a chance to play with the Argentina national team:
“One always dreams about it, it’s what you always look for, to prepare for it. When I was there before the start of the match against Brazil, I looked at myself… Where I Was. I was nervous for the moment, anxious, emotional. Things that go through your mind.
“The games against Germany and Brazil, they were the matches that I enjoyed the most in my career.
“I’m anxious about playing in the World Cup qualifiers and wearing the Argentina national team shirt but/ I know the time will come.”
I remember during 1 year, right after Neymar left for psg, Barca played in 442 and to me, Messi played one of his best seasons ever. Seems obvious to me to replicate that with the national team, it’s easy to implement and now we have 2 good players for the right midfielder: Ocampos and Buendia.
https://www.hammers.news/columnist/report-david-moyes-has-already-agreed-deal-to-bring-gonzalo-montiel-to-west-ham/
Is it confirmed yet? Montiel to West Ham?
Agree, Ocampos can be useful and contribute much to N/T, brings more balance to the attack and mid field, his chance is more bigger than Correa or Icardi. Keep playing well and shine with Sevilla
Icardi is the best striker in the world
I’m gonna go out on the limb here and say that next to the DePaul/Paredes combo, Ocampos might be the most important piece of the puzzle.
We all talk about Messi and any 2 of the Aguero/Dybala/Lautaro combo as the front 3 but I think it should be Messi, 1 of the Aguero/Dybala/Lautaro combo and Ocampos as the front 3. Lucas’s speed, athleticism and defensive acumen is key to giving Argentina balance.
Yeah, LWF Ocampos, CF Lautaro, RWF Messi. That could work well. Ocampos can play anywhere in attack.
In a 4-3-3, I absolutely agree with Ocampos/Lautaro/Messi upfront with Lo Celso/Paredes/De Paul behind them in the midfield
I dont think that role is suited to him as much because if we play a 433 he isnt a pure number 9 and unlike dybala/alario (he hasnt played as a 10 or a 9 for his club this season and would be ahead of him to fight With aguero and lautaro for the attcking spots, if we play a 442 like we did against brazil (in the friendly not the game that got stolen from us) and germany i would for sure have him on the right wing because he’s fantastic offensively and has hood stamina defensively, however in the 433 he could be a sub for de paul on the right side of midfield or even start ahead of him depending what scaloni decides (i like both of them either way), right now if we played a 433 my team would be:
Andrada/armani
Foyth/ montiel (rb) otamendi (cb) quarta/l.martinez (cb) tagliafico (lb) paredes/ lisandro martinez (if he plays cdm then a different cb obviously) de paul/ocampos (rcm) lo celso (been insane at spurs) (lcm) messi (cam) lautaro and aguero/alario
4-4-2:
Same goalie and defence, rm(ocmapos or de paul), paredes/l. Martinez and lo celso in middle, acuna (lm), messi and lautaro/aguero (sub dybala/alario but maybe dybala can play in the middle as well and slightly more adavanced in the lo celso spot whilst the other cm drops)
I don’t think Ocampos will be used on the left, if he plays, he will play on the right to free Messi, similar role as Lavezzi in the past. I don’t think you can bring the 100% of the current Messi if he plays as right forward.
why do i keep seeing fellow mundo homies ignore our recent success with 4312. Uruguay and brazil were our best games in recent times. We had these giants sitting back scared to attack with the front 3 pressing up against their defense. For the 1st time in a long time, i actually saw the NT have complete control of the game.
Aguero – Dybala / Martinez
Messi
I really do like Ocampos but i’m not sure id sacrifice the scoring threat of Dybala, Martinez, or Aguero for him. we need to score effin goals, man 🙂 and these 4 are certainly the best in the world (martinez not quite there yet but he will).
Perhaps instead of sacrificing the front 3, the mid and def should be modified.
I couldnt agree more, in the brazil game they could not cope with the pressing and we just werent clinical enough/unlucky and the uruguay game we were even more dominant since even after we went behind after having played almost the whole 1st half we never lost momentum and undeservedly that game just about ended in a draw when we should have won, the only difference is that in the 4-4-2 i feel we’re more secure defensively and harder to break down as we beat brazil 1-0 with that formaton even though we played better in the semifinal and lost 2-0 and that was due to the exposure in the 4-3-3 however i would much rather bank on argentina towards being an attacking team than focusing on being defensively compact because since we have the best player in the world plus another 3 truly world class attackers it would be a shame not to try to get the best out of them than making us a defensive team (not to say that we dont focus on being more compact defensively, france won the wc becuse as much as the ridiculous talent they have they were also good at not conceding and being able to take the sting out of games except against us which only further proves the potential that we have)
Palacios and Alaric both on the bench for Leverkusen
Indeed. The restart of the Bundesliga was not what we hoped for. The four players that have been part of the NT selections in recent times (Alario, Ascacibar, Balerdi and Palacios) all started on the bench. Apparently the coaches of their respective club teams think they have better players in their selections.
I hope you are wrong. The sample size is too small though Richard, maybe it’s a bit too early to draw these conclusions. We can revisit after a few more games.
Let’s hope so, Enganche. It was just the first round after the break. My reply was not a conclusion, but an observation.
well said, che…too soon to draw conclusions.
Way too early to draw such conclusions. Bundesliga is going to play at a break neck pace in the coming months (with games possibly every 4 days) so our boys will get their moment for sure, although whether they seize the moment is another thing entirely.
Alario has always been a sub and luckily Argentina is sorted when it comes to Center forwards like him.
Ascacibar played every game before the Covid period and I have little doubt that he’s going to feature regularly for Hertha.
Balerdi’s lack of game time has been a huge let down but he did get more than 20 mins in their most recent match and Broussia just suffered a defensive injury so things might be looking up for Leonardo.
Palacios has come into Bayern Leuverkusin during a period where the club is stalked with capable midfielders, so the kid is gonna have to fight for his place, but if he’s as good as everyone thinks he is, he should be able to nail down a starting berth by the end of the season.
Bayer will be the next Dortmund, if Palacios and Alario win some playing time, that will be really great for the national team.
I think now Ocampos is the another important player for arg team. He is talent and skillfull player..i like him because he can play as a midfielder and as a forward.always he is hardworking for getting a chance of arg national team..
My arg xi:
Musso/rulli
Foyth q mertinez otamendi tagliafico
Locelso paredes/Dominguez di paul
Messi
Dybala mertinez
Sub players: walter bentiz,saravia,pezzela,balardi,acuna,palacios,guido rodrigez,mac alister,emi buindea,ocampos,aguro,alario,icardi,gonzales
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