Alejandro “Papu” Gomez wants to be back in Argentina team

By
Roy Nemer
-
63

Alejandro “Papu” Gomez has had a standout season for Atalanta in Serie A and has his eyes set on the Argentina national team.

Gomez is not only Atalanta’s captain but he was also one of their best players the entire season. After reaching the quarter finals of the Champions League, Gomez wants to return to the Argentina team. Speaking in an interview with Superfutbol, here’s what he had to say:

“I would like to because I believe in the last few years, I have been doing things really well with Atalanta. I showed that I could play internationally. Obviously age isn’t in my favor for the next World Cup but I could give a helping hand for the present.”

About which position he would play, should Argentina national team coach Lionel Scaloni call him up.

“I changed positions since the last time I was called to the team. Today, I play as a playmaker, from a number 5 to get the ball up to the forwards. I don’t know where I would play or in what position the coach prefers me in but I believe I could adapt because in the last four years I have played in every position in attack. It would be good.”

Gomez also spoke about his form when he did play for Argentina:

“It’s complicates not to have that many training sessions to get to know one another. We always say the same thing and it’s difficult for the connection of the team and above all for the individuals.

“If we play with the team every day, you would understand each other with just a stare, like Suarez and Messi.”

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63 Comments

    • For sure. Banega and Paredes should have been competing this whole time.

      Check out clip from todays match – Conte vs Banega beef. Banega made fun of his wig and Conte flipped lol. Ocampos concerned looked cracks me up too.

      twitter.com/Wideoverload/status/1296925553275043840

  3. I think we have to be patuent with Lautaro. 1 super performance against Shaktar and we were dancing and another disappointing performance and now we are jumping. With Eriksen out , Inter missed creativity in their midfield. I think its a collective fault of Inter.

    • i always knew he would find it tough against kounde because kounde is the type of defender who guesses accurately the attacker’s next move hence a less agile player like lautaro would definitely struggle against the quick thinking and action of kounde.

  5. Lautaro was in the pocket of kunde today.
    Either kunde is just too good or we are overestimating lautaro. Lautaro is good but young Aguero was better.
    I hope he turns out to be something special because I really do have high hopes from him.

    • Lautaro was great in semi final, but invisible in the final. No proper passes to him and no usable crosses. Without supply he could not do much. The sense of urgency was missing in 2nd half. Wide passes. back passes and more wide passes from Inter. The lack of creativity in midfield cost Inter a trophy.
      Sevilla did better and Banega was excellent. Pinpoint passes and crosses. Great first half. Forgettable second half.

      • lautaro has a good technique but lacks a lot in consistency and was literally pocketed by kounde. also inter’s midfield didnt provide the necessary passes for the attack nor did the wing backs play well. inter lacked the urgency which machester united showed in the semi finals and inter milan’s midfield totally switched off . both barella and brozovic played poor in the second half. i thought eriksen would have brought a spark when he came on but even he struggled.

    • kounde was definitely way too good against lautaro he is another one of french football’s brightest gems his style is similar to lucas martinez quarta but an even better version. lautaro would defnitely struggle against such quick minded defenders who are good in guessing the attacker’s movement. lautaro still has a long way to go to emulate the feats of aguero but he is still a promising prospect for argentina’s attack.

  6. Lautaro must leave Inter, conte tactics doesn’t suit him at all, under pep Lautaro become world class

    • It was for conte’s brave desicions that Lautaro is world class today,his faith in Lautaro and his decision to play him with Big Rom really paid off. Its just 1 bad match. Lautaro isnt a finished product and still has plenty to improve .

      • Yes lautaro yet to improve but under Pep he will be unstoppable. Yes Conte contribution can’t be ignored, 1 year ago lautaro wasn’t same like he is at moment but I would like Lautaro to go to city and improve himself better.

  7. Fantastic performance by Lopetegui and you see why Spain and Real Madrid were high on him. First of all the incredible level of drill and coordination in the team. Their side to side long switch of play to find vertical space is probably one of the best i the world

    And then recognizing and game planning around taking Lautaro out of the game by having Kounde shadow him everywhere even into the middle of the field and cutting out the number one Inter tactic of pivoting the ball around Lautaro to get their breaks making them toothless outside of relying on individual 1-1’s of lukaku vs Diego. This combined with using Ocampos/reguillon on one side and Navas on the other to take out the second threat of Inter – their aggressive wing backs and pushing them back made Inter completely lose creativity because their midfield was no match for banega in terms of advancing the ball. By the 50th minute when Sevilla had withdrawn the press except occasionally you could tell Inter had no ideas.

    So happy for Banega masterminding the middle and both him and lopetegui using beautiful scripted set pieces to hammer Inter all day. Going off to his retirement gig after a well deserved gold medal. Of course his weakness when playing as an advanced playmaker was on display again – watch the first penalty and how Barella steals the ball mid air from him high up the pitch to release lukaku. We have discussed this in the past for example in wolverhampton game and france game.

    • banega is a class above many players when it comes to passing but he often gets caught in the hold up play and loses the ball in the midfield and he doesnt have the pace to retrieve the ball by helping out the defence . he also made such errors in the manchester united game which would have been costly if not for bono’s excellent form against united.

  11. We seriously lack creative mids, Lo-celso doesn’t seem to be effective in deep midfield, time for Mr Consistent Papu to be back!! He is only 32 yrs old, good enough to for qualifiers and if maintains form and fitness definitely a candidate for 2022 WC!

    • Lack creative mids? Paul, Paredes and Celso are all highly creative midfielders and Lo Celso is not meant to play deep midfield, he should be central mid with freedom to bomb forward, kind of like what Paulino was for Brazil.

  12. Argentina have the upper hand right now when it comes to having Luka Romero to choose Argentina.
    On the other we couldn’t do much about Gio Reyna choosing USA, which is more than fair.
    Batista has in mind a few players for the 2021 U 20 squad, who have to make a choice whether to commit to Argentina.
    Matko Miljevic represented Argentina in 2019 L’Acudia tournament. He was born in US to Argentine Expats. Since then US Association have convinced Miljevic to play for them after they told about their project. He played 2 friendlies for the US under 20s in January. Batista is still hopeful that Miljevic will reconsider his decision.
    Santiago Gimenez is a 19 year old striker playing for Cruz Azul in Mexico. He is the son of Christian Gimenez, who won 2 copa libertadores with Boca before moving to Mexico, where he was a massive hit. After failing to get a call up from Argentina, he represented Mexico. Now, it will be interesting to see if Santiago will choose Argentina, the country of his birth or Mexico, where he has lived.
    Franco Vezzoni is a 19 year central mid playing for Inter reserves. Italy u 21 was considering him before the cover 19 intervened. Another player who has to make a choice if Batista does call him.
    There are 2 others who won’t be eligible in 2021, but still might need to make a choice in the future.
    Mateo Klimowicz is son of Diego Klimowicz, who was successful in Bundesliga in the 2000s. Diego never got a Argentina call up, but Mateo is eligible for Poland, like his dad, through his great grand parents.
    Mateo Bejamich was Instituto’s top scorer last term, and highly regarded. Bejamich has already applied for Croatian passport just in case.

  13. Not a day passes with out the haunting image of Goetze and helpless Romero..we have to endure that all our life time..me too exactly waiting since that Brehme’s goal..I mean from Italia 90..Italia 90 was an haunting past too..as Osho says “one who see from the top of the mountain realize all directions merge to a single point” unfortunately for us all world cup memories converges to a point of misery n sadness..endless “ifs”..but reality is same.. already mentioned this I think..still remember my long lonely walk back to my house at darkness n sadness almost 2’o clock night after Hagi n Dumitrescu ruined our dreams..looking back feel a lot lot of time has passed..to be precise feel almost life has passed..

    seeing Messi’s current sufferings hurts..that’s it..

  14. Seeing Messi in a shirt other than Barcelona n Argentina will be more painful than seeing Goetze”s goal. How all the glorious past can have a meaningless end ? On the same time, Barcelona are soo poor in their decision making for the past few years and Messi himself allowed the free fall for some time not sure how the indifference will have the impact. Now the impact exploded in unbelievable magnitude. Sad really.. his age also playing a very crucial part at the moment.. for God sake let Messi stay in Barcelona.. now they need him more than ever..

    • Not for me, there’s nothing more painful than that goetze goal. If Messi stop playing football today then also it won’t be even close to that painful goal.

    • Except Barcelona fans nobody really care if Messi will wear other jersey in club level.
      he is Argentinian so Albiceleste jersey will not stop wear till end so about the clubs who cares.
      He can go to Real Madrid too if he desires. it is fine by me.

    • > Seeing Messi in a shirt other than Barcelona n Argentina will be more painful than seeing Goetze”s goal.

      Holy smokes, man. Almost nothing is more painful than that EFFIN Goetze goal. Still haunts me to this day. Could care less if Messi isn’t wearing a Barca kit.

      i noticed you also mention “other than Argentina” as well. Now if Messi suddenly wore a Germany kit, that would be painful:)

    • Respectfully my friend, it is quite rude to say that barcelona shirt change hurts more than Goetze’s goal. Some of us have been living with the pain of Brehme’s penalty for 30 years. We can only hope the pain of Goetze’s goal does not last another 30. Club shirts come and go, these are just mercenary professions.

    • Seeing Messi trashed in Barcelona is more painful than anythining. It will take time for Barcelona to rebuild. Messi should leave. Its good for Barcelona to rebuild and Messi to win something outside.

    • Will Enjoy Messi no matter what club he plays for, as long he wears the Argentina shirt.

      P.S. Atletico shirt would be great, though. 🙂

      nothing hurts more than that goal in 2014, seen it twice only, hard to think about it, let alone watch it again.

  15. Papu Gomez can be good addition for De paul..Gomez can play in place of De paul.We can have Messi,Lo celso,Gomez, Paredes four creative players on the pitch same time. In this formation Argentina will have lion’s share in possession but little weak in defence and strong and creative in attack.I do not know Gomez participate in defence or not but that formation can be tried.

    • Part of successful national teams is players continuing to play with the same players. De Paul has been a mainstay for the NT the past 1.5 years. You’re going backwards if you replace him with a 30+ player unfamiliar with the other players. A bench role for Papu is great.

      • Gomez is not unfamiliar he participated in 2018 qualifier matches.Gomez is very creative player if he were not injured in second half,may be Atalanta could have been in UCL final.

  16. He is physically not strong to play in midfield and we have ample of these types of player in forward postion.
    We need pace and width so that Messi will have space to do his magic. Ocampos and Nico Gonzalez fit the bill.

  17. If we look purely on performance & form across year & no other ‘ reasons ‘ , i guess this is the 23 as of now
    GK – Musso , Emilano , Benitez
    Defense – Montiel, Palamino, Otamendi, Tagliafico, Martinez Quarta , Saravia , Lisandro
    Midfield – Locelso, Parades , DePaul, Banega , Buendia , Dominguez
    Attack – Ocampos, Lautaro, Messi , Dybala, Aguero, DiMaria , Papu

    There is actually no place in 23 for Nico Gonzalez , Pezella, Andrada, Palacios , Icardi, Foyth & this team looks incredible in midfield/ attack.

    • “If we look purely on performance & form across year & no other ‘ reasons ‘ ”

      And then you have Ottamendi on your squad. I don’t know how you associate the word “form and performance” which you mean here “good form and good performance” with Ota who is a benchwarmer all season long. Leaving Pezzella who is the pillar of La Viola’s defense and giving his spot to Ota is something beyond me. Fiorentina isn’t in good shape nowadays but Pezzella is an undisputed starter there. The rest of the team looks exicing though I don’t want to see Banega anymore in the team. I would give Palacios to that spot and everything is fine.

      • my vote for Otamendi is for v simple reasons.
        1) His performance in NT in the few matches in last year has been good ( Copa + friendlies ) . Pep now dosent rate him high. But NT games he played well last year
        2) Palamino, Pezella , Martinez Quarta all end up playing as Right CBs Atleast i have not seen them play as LeftCB. Otamendi has played both sides over time & looks equally at ease as left CB also.
        3) Also from a combination perspective – Palamino & Pezella are both weak on ballplay . U need one CB who can pass well forward. For me it was a Palamino vs Pezella & for now i feel palamino looks more impactful.

        I share your view on Banega not being overall effective for NT or atleast not doing justice to his talent. But if you keep performance/form of last year no way Palacios beats him considering Palacios has hardly got 1-2 chances since Leverkusen move.
        Again i am not saying this has to be our team for Copa. I would bet more on youngsters keeping future in mind. But if performance & form was only criteria i guess this is the fairest team

    • Still Otamendi is one of the best defender in the world. But its risky to use him in 2 man CB role. As he always goes far and try to tackle. Sometime lose and opposition scores. I prefer him in 3 man back. As we still have doubt on RB position, and we have many options in CB positions, we have to think about three man back..! I would have loved to see below lineup,

      ————Lautaro
      —————————-Messi
      Tagli–DePaul–Paredes–LoCelso–Ocampos
      —–Palomino-Pazella-Otamendi——–

      In this formation, I believe we have plenty of “class player” options in each positions. Also, this somehow make the lineup more balanced than the current, where we have a hole in RB position and a risk of Paredes alone in DM role. Here we can cover that issue with third CB and by an outstanding Ocampos.

      As we see somany promising CBs emerging and very less numbers on the sides we have to plan for 3 man back line with a proper defensive setup that wont disturb our attacking play.

      • @Amit, I respect your views very much and I like reading your posts. Your argument’s base was the “form/performance” factor which isn’t applicable to Ota at club level, but at national level you can say so. The same thing could be said about Palacios who performed superbly for the national team in all the games he took part. And don’t forget that this season was Palacios’s first season in Europe and hee needed time to gel with the rest of the team and win his starting spot at Leverkusen.

        On the other hand, the passing aspect of Banega’s play is the only good thing he has right now. He is very slow (was always), his long range shots aren’t the same anymore, and his dribbling rate declined sharply as I think. It isn’t wise to leave palacios behind and select Banega in his position at all.

        • Sure my friend. Likewise i always look forward to reading your posts & keep them coming. You have a very valid point . Palacios played very well in all the matches he played for NT & the club situation is surely a passing phase & also bcos of a dumb coach. Maybe i am blinded by the fact that Banega is leaving Europe

      • Hey vasu, I think ur referring to Nico’s superb cameo in the Brazil friendly where he troubled brazilian defence on right side & teamed up nicely with messi. But if u look at that 7 names in attack , who can u replace purely on ‘recent form’ . I think Nico should be focussed for Tokyo Olympics & he can run riot on right wing . Something like …
        Gaich (CF)
        Barco – maclister – Nico
        Vera – ascaibar

  18. I did not see the new copa schedule posted, so here:

    v Chile @ Buenos Aires on 11th June 2021
    v Uruguay @Cordoba on 15th June
    v Paraguay @Buenos Aires on 19th June
    v Australia @Buenos Aires on 22nd June
    v Bolivia @La Plata on 27 June

    If we win group then Qtr Final on 3rd July in Buenos Aires if we come second then 2nd July in Cordoba. If we are 3rd/4th play in Colombia on 4th July

    Then semi final in either Buenos Aires on 6th or Medellin on 7th. Final at Barranquilla on 10th.

  19. inter vs sevilla this match is going to be entertaining
    one thing to watch out for is the duel between inter’s attackers and sevilla’s defense

    lautaro vs kounde and lukaku vs diego carlos

    lautaro vs kounde is a clash between two young highly technically gifted players both of them dont have the height or physique but rely largely on their technique it is definitely going to be interesting as to how lautaro will get the better of kounde whose qualities are similar to lucas martinez quarta he reads the game brilliantly and always guesses accurately where the attacker’s next movement will be so it will be a great challenge for lautaro.

    there is still slight doubt in ocampos fitness level for the final. i hope he will be fine and put in a good performance.

    i wud like inter to win but i also wudnt mind sevilla winning because both clubs have great argentine history in them and always treat argentina players well . anyways hope lautaro and ocampos have a good game.

  20. Based on their current form, Papu, Maria and Ever would all be welcome in my book, not as starters mind you but rather as subs.

    Maria subs for Ocampos
    Papu subs for Lio
    Banega subs for somebody in the midfield.

    WCQ are always brutal and tricky and so all hands on deck.

  21. Papu deserve the call, trust he will contribute and play an important role, it was truly a wasted if you don’t call such a good class and on fire player. Chance and opportunity should be equal and open door for everyone; if i am Scaloni i will even drop Kun and bring Papu in… if the reason is there is no space

  22. Papu Gomez is a class player, a case can be made for his place in the team, at least on the bench. Him and Banega might still have something to give but not as starters any more.

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