Lionel Messi, Papu Gomez in Champions League squad of the season

By
Roy Nemer
-
74

Lionel Messi and Alejandro “Papu” Gomez were both named in the Champions League squad of the season.

Only two Argentine players made the team this season as both team captains continued to perform at a high level in the tournament. Despite Messi’s name being in the media that he wants out of Barcelona, he was the only player from his team to make the squad. Alejandro “Papuy” Gomez is also the only Atalanta man to feature in it as well.

Here is the squad:

Goalkeepers
Manuel Neuer (Bayern)
Jan Oblak (Atlético)
Anthony Lopes (Lyon)

Defenders
Alphonso Davies (Bayern)
Joshua Kimmich (Bayern)
Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool)
Dayot Upamecano (Leipzig)
Angeliño (Leipzig)
David Alaba (Bayern)

Midfielders
Thiago (Bayern)
Kevin De Bruyne (Man. City)
Houssem Aouar (Lyon)
Leon Goretzka (Bayern)
Marcel Sabitzer (Leipzig)
Marquinhos (Paris)
Alejandro Gómez (Atalanta)
Thomas Müller (Bayern)

Forwards
Serge Gnabry (Bayern)
Robert Lewandowski (Bayern)
Kylian Mbappé (Paris)
Neymar (Paris)
Lionel Messi (Barcelona)
Raheem Sterling (Man. City)

Congratulations to both players.

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74 Comments

  2. Messi had made up his mind already, he wants to leave but wants Barcelona to get a fair fee in return from ManCity which they are more than willing to pay but the board wants the whole 700 million fee to which his lawyers will argue that he is entitled to leave for free and that the time has not expired since there was a covid19 break.
    He will not stay regardless what they do over there, its over.

  3. Some says Messi will stay at Barcelona if Bartomeu resign..! I dont believe.
    Bartomeu and Koeman out(what…!), together with an excllent coach and board….may be he stays.

    “Koeman was my coach for two-and-a-half years and no matter how much time goes by, he is still unable to handle players with strong characters and he doesn’t want a player who has an opinion.”
    -Mido

  4. My view on martinez performance today : Excellent at 1v1’s, good decision making in short passing game, poor long distribution, hesitant in the crosses (probably understandable as liverpool might be the best crossers on planet), penalties sub par as mostly wrong guesses (though I do enjoy it when they try to get into scorers head like that).

    I think its a decent performance but frankly I still think the sample size is too small compared to other guys ahead of him and I would like to see full season performances.

  8. “Messi has informed Barcelona that he will NOT appear for the COVID-19 PCR tests tomorrow. The Argentine maintains his decision to not continue at the club.”

    In the last 10 years Messi won the chmapions league just once..! Would you believe?
    I cant see him winning chamions league or even league with Barcelona in next season or even after. Let him join ManCity and try it with Pep again. Let him win CL atleat once there. Let him win and retire.

      • Yes 2010 and 2014.
        Messi clearly wish to win at least one more Champions League as Cristiano already has five (1 with ManU and 4 with Real). With Barcelona, he cant see it happen in near future. Trying luck elsewhere is the best possible option. Let Messi win it again (4with Barca and 1 with ManC). One more Ballon dOr and finally a WC win..!

  9. This moron doesnt know…Messi made this Barcelona. Before Messi…it was nothing. Nothing. Ronaldinho and then Messi made this Barcelona. Messi was same before joininig Barcelona. Check his footage in Newell’s. Barcelona was lucky to have him in their squad. They were far behind Real Madrid until Messi joined there. They had just one Champions League before Messi…just 1..!!!

    https://twitter.com/i/status/1299680898950991872

  10. Can anyone explain me how Foyth is the fastest argentine player 😀
    And how montiel is slower than Foyth
    And how Quarta has weak physicality 🙂
    To my freinds who are a regular follower of the argentine league,can u explain the last 2 points 🙂

    • Kavi has been wrong about Montiel for some time now. It’s not supported by empirical evidence. Let everybody see for themselves. Just like he was wrong about Tagliafico in the past.

      • Tagliafico was bad but as time passes he transgirmed himself.Look at Tagliaficio’s performance with Argentina in world cup and qualifiers he run like a headless chicken.Ansaldi was far better than him at that time but silly coaches did not choose Ansaldi at Left Back.But right now Tagluafico is one of the best Left back.

    • Foyth is really fast watch his performance in premier League, I don’t rate quarta because he is playing against farmers, let him move Europe and prove his worth. As of now Foyth ahead of Quarta.

  11. Do not consider Montiel a fast Right Back he has average speed.He has small stature of body even smaller than Tagliafico.Montiel is good in game reading and in crossing but National team demands more.Till mow Foyth and Sarvia are best for Right Back.

    • Do not consider Foyth as a fast right back. He is fast for a centre back. Montiel is 2 times faster than foyth

    • First of all, small stature or not is irrelevant for a fullback, he is not a central defender, as a matter of fact lower centre of gravity might help with agility. Second, Montiel is NOT slow, he is an attacking fullback, constantly popping up high up the pitch on the right flank. Lastly, fullbacks by definition are NOT slow, let alone attacking fullbacks, otherwise they would not be asked to play in one of the most demanding positions in modern football where they have to constantly run up and down.

    • 7th ballon d or for messi
      2nd golden boot for aguero
      5th pl for man city
      1st ucl for man city
      Vamos Argentina :)))))))))

  15. Romance XI (4-3-1-2): Musso – Montiel/Saravia Foyth/Perez Romero/Sensi Tagliafico – De Paul/Ocumpos Paredes/Ascaliber Lo Celso/Palacios – Messi – Lautaro/Icardi Dybala/Aguero

  16. Guys how does this line up looks? Its a bit attack prone though

    4-2-3-1(4-4-1-1)

    ————-Lautaro
    ————–Messi
    De Paul——-Ocampos
    —–Paredes-celso
    Taglia———–Montiel
    —-Quarta-Pezela
    —————Musso

    Note: Avilla/Alario/Icardi as Lautaro sub

    for wide midfielders:Buendia,Dybala or even Lo Celso can be an option

    Lisandro can take a spot in CB instead of Pezzela

    Emi Martinez can be an alternative for Musso

    • No doubt on the qualities of Quarta and Montiel. But until they get experience in big league against big strikers, its risky to use them as starters for NT.
      I still prefer Otamendi and Foyth as first choice instead of them.

      • Foyth has below average pace,lacks crossing attributes . On the other hand Montiel’s pace is good,his attacking qualities are good,and unlike Foyth ,he isnt mistakeprone. Plus Montiel is very very hardworking .
        I prefer Montiel more,but Foyth has a taste of european football,which is important. I hope Montiel gets a move to West Ham or any other top tier european club

        I think Otamendi is finished,he will be useless in 2 years. His NT form is OK,but he is s inconsistent . With an eye on future,Quarta should be our starting CB. He is very dynamic and solid defender. He is 24 and up untill 2022,he will be well at his prime. And yes,Senesi can be an interesting option too

        • Romero, Senesi, Nehuen, Balerdi….we have many options in CB positions. We have to wait and see how they progress.
          Currently they cannot be the solution. May be in 1-2 years.

        • Foyth is fastest player in national team.Why you say he is average at speed,off the ball fastest,he does not give crosses but he can provide through balls. In Club friendly game he provided assist to Son with a through ball.
          Montiel is average at speed against pacey winger he will suffer.
          Palomino will be best for replacing Otamendi,Palomino has speed,quick passing,tackles,good in air plus he can score goals.Quarta needs time he is not physically strong.

          • Foyth is fastest player in National team- 😂😂😂
            Montiel is lot faster than Foyth. Foyth has great acceleration for which he looks fast inside the box. But when criteria is speed on the flank,Foyth is bang bang average. He can press hard in flank,but those sprints arent good,he is slower than tagliafico.Montiel’s acceleratiin is average but sprint is quite good

            Quarta is 6 foot 2 inches and physically very strong. Its wrong to say he is not strong

    • You missed Aguero and if Dybala is excellent for Juventus, you can’t bench peak Dybala. Sampaoli tried to filed Argentina playing 11 with mediocre midfielder while world class attackers on the beach. Argentina have to play on their strength, in the mean while team balance is also important. One of Ocumpos or De Paul should be benched by Dybala/Aguero. Foyth is best in CB and certainly better than Farmer pazella/quarta

      • Foyth is trash in CB -_- quarta is our best cb .
        Aguero is old now,i dont think he will last untill 2022.
        I mentioned Dybala as an option. Dont know whethed he will click as a wide midfielder for argentina though

        • Aguero is still best striker in EPL, apart from Icardi no one even close to Aguero. After Messi, Aguero Argentine best players are Dybala, Icardi where lautaro is still not finished product. Foyth is playing in premier League where quarta playing in farmer league

          • Expect EPL, Bundesliga, La Liga, Sere A all leagues are farmers leauge because of the level of difficulty

          • “Farmer’s league” per definition is described as a league dominated by a single team over a longer period of time. Yes, PSG is said to be a farmers league because PSG has dominated it for years, but let’s look at the other leagues.

            Bundesliga: Bayern Munich 8 titles in a row.
            Serie A: Juventus 9 titles in a row.
            La Liga: Either Real Madrid or Barcelona every single year since 03/04 except 13/14

            So all leagues in Europe are farmer leagues except Premier League??????

            Do you even realize what you are doing when you say that Argentina’s league is a farmers league, and call half of our squad farmers, in a forum for Argentina’s National team????????????
            It’s offensive towards Argentines, it’s offensive towards fans of Argentina NT. Do you even realize that basically ALL Argentine players were playing in the Argentine league at some point?

            You are toxic. Do us a favor and leave this forum. You are not a fan of Argentina. Go to a forum for Germany NT.

          • Your assumptions wrong, even premier League also 2 horse race city vs Liverpool. Wining league back to back won’t define league difficulties, it illustrates the dominance of a team in the league. Juventus won sere A 8 times in a row but Inter, Lazio, Roma, Napoli are quality opposition thus it doesn’t consider farmers league. I league in India also has different league winner this decade, does I league considered top league, answer is no. League difficulties means quality of opposition and playing at higher level. Musso faced quality of attack and opposition, Armani faced farmers in his career best season for River Plate 2017-18 season and picked on the world cup squad without playing even a single match. Result in front of everyone when faced quality of opposition. Thus Armani is playing in farmer league where musso is playing in top league. Emi Martinez is playing even more competitive league where quality of opponents are much stronger. In la Liga mid table team won Europa League therefore it’s considered top league in Europe, in 2018 when Argentina need goals World class Dybala was on the bench and Farmer meza was playing, I called those Argentine players farmer who don’t deserve to be the part of squad or bench warmer

          • The term farmers league is a derogatory term made up by EPL fans to mock and look down upon Ligue 1 for being dominated by a single club, which you can obviously say about Serie A and Bundesliga too, even though the quality of their league is better.
            Yes we all know that the Argentine league is of lower quality than top4 leagues in Europe, but it doesn’t make it a farmers league. It’s less of a farmers league than Bundesliga or Serie A.
            I dare you to go to Buenos Aires and tell the Argentines that their league is a farmers league. Please do it.

          • I am saying farmer league on the basis of league quality and difficulties, one time Manchester United won EPL continuously doesn’t make Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool etc are less privileged club. Similarly Sere A dominated by Juventus last decade and probably won’t in upcoming seasons. Despite Juventus dominance Inter, Lazio, Napoli are bigger club and lower table team in sere A gives competition that’s why a player grow much playing in top European league and I never judge someone stats in Farmer league. Quality of league decides Farmers

  17. UCL 2020 playing 11: Neuer – Kemich upamecano VVD Davis – KDB Thiago Goretzka – Messi Muller – Lewandowski

  18. Papu must be selected,he is consistent and performed regularly.. He provides most assist in serie a for the last 3-4 seasons… I think
    PAPU-PAREDES-DE PAUL is the perfect midfield with
    OCAMPOS-LAUTARO/AGUERO/DYBALA-MESSI is the perfect forward lineup…midfield has a extreme creativity and also they defended well… Papu is the hard working player like de paul,so i think this should be balanced mid for the team

    • Papu will be 35 in 2022, no matter how much player perform good for club or played 3-4 outstanding game average age in playing 11 important.

      • A player with huge determination to perform for national team cant be undermined just based on his age, a lot of legends did that in their career. Zanetti is a prime example of our national team.

        • 7 matches in 1 month and sometime you get 3 days rest but played 120 minutes before that, many young players can’t cope with that and you are talking about a player who is 35! we could have that luxury if messi were 25-26 but as messi don’t tire himself to give the best we can’t afford old players , cuz other players have to make up for messi.

      • It doesn’t matter if he’s old, it matters how good we play. Imagine him feeding his high quality chances to players like Messi, Agüero, Lautaro, Dybala, etc. If it’s not WC 22 at least the Copa America considering it’s in less than a year. He doesn’t even have to be a starter.

    • Dont think papu is much hardworking . His defensive contribution as a CM can be questionable. As a CM,Lo Celso over papu any day of the week

    • he is 35, we don’t know how messi will do at 35. we know messi is the best player of all time but that does not mean we have to disrespect other legends.

  20. Arsenal are reportedly prepared to sell Martinez, as Leno is fit. This is great news because for a while our weakest position was goalkeeper (if not right back). The reason some people believe that Musso should be the starting keeper is because of him playing consistently for multiple seasons. This should fix that in regards to Martinez. It has been sad for us in terms of the lie about Leeds wanting an Argentinian team, but even if this is the only signing for us I am quite happy. Apart from that I would like to see Foyth and Montiel transfer as well.

    • Musso should start because he plays regularly AND is consistently fantastic and until Emi starts for his club and plays consistently at a high level then he should be no where near Musso in the pecking order.

      • For me its Walter Benitez. I think he is the best in the lot . Maybe OGC Nice has kept him very secluded from NT eyes. Benitez, Musso, Emilano, Andrada – this should be the selection scope . 3 goes to NT & 1 goes to Olympics as an overage player. If Benitez is not integrated to NT soon , he will actually start trying for France NT in 2021. He has already made statements. I think its his strong personality that Scaloni is hesitant on. But he can be a leader on pitch & has been proving himself for more than 3 seasons now.

    • Musso ahead of Emi Martinez because he performed well throughout the season, if Emi Martinez performed better and play regular football then sure he will be picked ahead of musso. Last season musso won Golden Glove playing with Udinese, I will be exciting for the competition like Alison vs Ederson, as of now Musso ahead

      • Musso thrives mainly last season, before that Rulli was ahead of him. Armani deserved 2019 copa and he did good job to be honest. Just like De Paul told earlier soon Musso will be going to be the no1 and time has come.

        • Everyone who knows football knew Musso going to be a big GK. We had a discussion here past WC. After Romero I like only Musso. And Musso is better than Romero. IMO, he will soon be one of the best Argentine GK ever. Hope he continous his improvement.

        • Rulli is a good GK but error prone. I like him. But we cant give no.1 spot to a error prone GK. It will cost you in tournament. In league it may be okay.

          • Rulli was excellent until 2018, after that his form dipped massively and disappeared later. Once Rulli was thought as Romero succesor, musso wasn’t hyped in racing just like Armani for River and Andrea in Boca. Certainly 2019-20 season thrives musso in the next world class GK. After 2018 world cup Rulli picked ahead of Musso even Gazza, but De Paul said that time Musso is going to be the next big thing for Argentina as well as club

          • Well then it’s settled. Musso for now undoubtedly. If Martinez seals a move and gets consistent minutes and proves himself to be better then he should be number one. But Musso for now.

  21. Lol Barca is trying their best to hold on to Messi and convince him to stay.
    And Messi on the other hand is trying his best too to calmly walk out of the club.

    It couldn’t be more hilarious than this. Both of them are trying hard to achieve their objectives.
    This board, out of respect should at least help Messi to get away instead of blocking his path. There’s nothing Messi owes to barca at this moment, he literally have given everything he could. So sticking in his arse to expect more from him is like enacting a code of slavery on to him.

    LET HIM GO BLAUGRANA. You have earned enough.

    • That makes me very mad as well. It’s clear they’ve become so dependent on him they are trying their hardest to let him go. It’s very disrespectful to Messi, given all he has done. He is trying his best to leave on good terms.

    • It’s simply negotiating tactics – playing hardball.

      Messi has a €700M release clause, and they claim they will only accept that. But… Messi’s contract ends in 1 year, he is 33 and he wants to leave. Are they going to force him to stay for a year against his will and let him go 100% for free next year, or are they going to cash in on him now getting ~100M + couple of players to prepare for their rebuild which they desperately need?

      I know the board is stupid, corrupt and actively sabotage the team, but getting rid of Messi this way is actually in their interest, since it will help them balance their books and prevent them from ending up with financial losses when they leave in March, which means they would have to pay for the losses out of their own pockets.

  22. For the UEFA Europe Cup it must be Banega and Ocampos.

    Scaloni will select and bring only one either Ocampos or Papu Gomez, and the team will prefer Ocampos

    • why one of the other? Why not both? Ocampos can play on either sides of the field and Papu can play in the middle or the left, I’d bring them both but I would start Ocampos on the right side of Dybala and Lio and then would have Papu come in as a sub.

  23. Wanda tum kaha ho, I love you Wanda and I love you very very much, mein akhain band karta hu tho tumhe dekhta hu, akhain kholta hoon tho sirf tumhe dekhna chahta hu

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