Gio Lo Celso, Juan Foyth, Gerónimo Rulli and Villarreal advance in Champions League

By
Roy Nemer
-
214

Gio Lo Celso, Juan Foyth and Gerónimo Rulli started for Villarreal in their draw against Bayern Munich in the Champions League.

The three Argentine players started for Villarreal as they drew 1-1, winning 2-1 on aggregate against Bayern Munich. Villarreal reach the Champions League semi finals for the second time, having last been there in the 2005-2006 season.

With Bayern leading the match 1-0 and the game going to extra time, Lo Celso was involved in the play as Villarreal would score late to win.

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214 Comments

  1. Well I finally got to watch the Bayren-Villareal match and I have to say that our boys did very well. Villareal shut Bayern down in the first half and even had a couple of good chances to finish the game off. In the 2nd half Villareal held on for dear life and succeeded in that regard.

    Celso, yet again, played quite well, not as well as the 1st match mind you, but he worked his butt off and created to 2 solid chances in the first half. Gio is a quality midfielder but believe it or not he’s still not playing in his natural position, which is centrally. I would love to see him play there because I’ve seen him destroy Barca and Real 4 years ago when he started attacks from centre midfield.
    Rulli did well also, he’s getting back the form that made people take notice during his 1st season with Sociedad. I hope he continues to get better because Argentina has never been spoiled for choice when it comes to GKs and this is the first time since I started supporting the albicelestes that the team has the likes of Dibu, Musso and now Rulli to choose from, I mean Walter Benitez, despite his great form, hasn’t even been called up.
    Finally Foyth, I heard some people say that he got skinned by Koman and I have to ask, what match were you watching? During the first half, Foyth and Coman had 5 one on one encounters and Foyth Handily won 4 of them. Only once (in the 2nd half) did Koman get the better of Foyth. I have to say, when it comes to individual duels, Foyth is almost unbeatable because thus far he has owned Ronaldo, Bruno Fernandez, Sancho and now Koman. In saying that I’m still not convinced that Foyth is a fullback in any shape or form and would take Montiel and Molina ahead of him but he could be useful if Argentina has go on the defensive in very tight matches.

    • Montiel is also weak attacking wise. Molina if he was not such poor defensively he would have been our best bet but unfortunately against top teams Molina will be destroyed and that can knock out us in a crucial juncture. So Molina and foyth should be our rb options

    • You forgot about him pocketing vinicius Jr when he played Real. For me, he is our best RB. I mentioned here over a year ago, our backline should be Romero, Martinez, Foyth and Medina. Only issue with Foyth is clumsiness.

  2. About Foyth. I think he is a talented player, but there is always a lil caous in him. I try to watch his games especially big ones and he always do something unnecessary or does that one mistake that could lead upto a goal. Maybe I missed most of the matches especially la liga games against weaker teams. My point is I ll be scared if he is playing in a knock out game in the WC i ll be honest. What I think does not make any difference but I dont want to be in that spot watching the WC. I ll be the happiest person if he turns out to be the gem cos i have nothing personal against him but I am scared thinking about his mistakes. Otamendi used to be like that and i hated it but since Copa America I found him different and as i have nothing personal against any players I welcome such performances from any players with open arms.

    • “I try to watch his games especially big ones and he always do something unnecessary or does that one mistake that could lead upto a goal.”
      I see completely opposite he gives extraordinary performance against most difficult opponents and difficult players in big matches.
      If you people will hate him just to hate then you people can but your reason is completely ridicilous.

      • Just because somebody have completely different view than yours that doesn t mean he is a hater. if you want to watch him as you said it is fine. what i see is one player that make many many mistakes and i don t want to see him do one of them with the national team. i don t want ever see again a Caballero type mistake in a world cup game. Foyth have the higher % posibility to do 1 like them than any other player.

        • Every one makes mistake. Even there is lots of instance when a messi leads to a goal or scoring threat that doesn’t mean you drop messi. Otamendi also did many mistakes previously but still he is our starting cb. This things happen in football

          • I repeat – “I have nothing against any players” and if Foyth is the hero of the WC i ll be jumping up and down on his name. I just shared my view and i have 100% right to do it in Mundo. Please dont be immature. My reason could be ridiculous to you does not make yours are correct. Why would I want Foyth to look bad? Am I the selector? Or does it count what I fear? Is Scaloni watching what I wrote or even if he does would he not pick Foyth just because Shovwar of Mundo is scared to see him play in a WC knock out. Grow up guys. No one is hating on any players. Atleast not me. Any player who puts on that blue and white i salute him. Thats my team player. I shared my view and that does not have to be same as yours. Not necessarily. Learn to take that pill and please do not just quote part of my writings that is out of the full context to just fulfill what you need. If you think Foyth is great thats fine and its your view I respect it. Take it easy.

  4. Foyth and Lo celso are shining in Villareal that is what happen when you give player regular game time. Foyth has proved himself against all top wingers while we know how Monroe suffered against Estupiana so Foyth is best for RB option.

    • Atletico only decided to play football for 45 minutes and 50% of the 2nd half wasted by All the playacting and Shithousery from ATM/City players. So he basically played football for 20 min max out of 180 min. If someone enhanced his 2nd half gameplay from first half or just try the same thing in atleast 1 half in 1st leg then they wouldve come up as Victorious. His lack of confidence in ATM players and attacking football orchestrated his downfall….

      City loves it when opponent plays ultra defensive football so they can get load of space in the middle to just pass around and have control in possession but they crumbles when Opponent’s play High Line and Press them to give no space in the middle. Something Barca too is Vulnerable against. For me this City team is overrated and their recent UCL failures are no co incidences. Pep Guardiola is only good for low intensity League format games. He can’t handle The gegenpress of UCL team. Real Madrid will easily go to another Final and They never lost any Final. Seems like 14th ucl is loading. Hopefully Villareal can prevent it.

      • You forgot RM are lucky that ref bailed them out. Take Benzema and Modric out of the game, city will destroy RM. Chelsea did not do that even after 3-0.

  6. I read Atletico have been linked to Dybala, Lautaro, Guido, Molina, Emi Martinez. Yes! Don’t forget Cuti Romero too Simeone.. and PSG number 30 is also unhappy! Oh yeah Di Maria is out of contract and Paredes is available too! Get them all Simeone!

    (Sarcasm mode)

    • Allison with depleted defense of liverpool conceded 3 goals. And no one criticizing him. Benfica forwards are not even 1/3 of kane son or kuluweski. But here even in mundo many considers him above emi. Crush this Allison and I want to see it. I don’t think villareal is capable of it. But yeah they play high line and lo celso can give them a tough time. Rulli victorious against that jocker dele alli’s son😂.

  7. If I were De Paul and Correa I wouldn’t waste my prime playing years at Atletico anymore. Our players will get a lot of recognition after the world cup and there will be no shortage of buyers after the tournament and these two need to capitalize on it. A.Correa is far better finisher than J.Felix and Depaul should have been played instead of Lemar who was extremely wasteful!! Simeone’s tactics reminded me of Sampaoli in 2018 WC saving Ageuro for last 30 mins or so?? I don’t even know how long he played as I stopped watching after France scored 3rd but those days are gone when you save your better players for the latter stages of the game against strong opponents.

  9. let be honest. the reason of bad speaking to Simeone from some people here is not his tactics.
    it is because he didn t start De paul and Correa.
    i didn t see any critics about Villareal “super coach” yesterday.
    so i guess if a team park the bus with our players in line up is ok.
    if they not used then the park of bus is descrace of football.
    yes ok i get it.
    well i will stand beside Diego Simeone here and i will wait the attacks against me too.
    i don t have time tonight so i will read the attacks tomorrow and i will answer. so i will be waiting.
    Diego make a clear strategy. He Didn t succeed because of details sadly in end. He knew that his team couldn t look in eyes city and he choose to try with patient game to hit city in first half with limited counter attacks. in second half when city s players started little to slowly down for control their powers then Diego put inside FRESH De Paul and Correa. the effect was imidiete. all the players give everything they had but…..
    i will support Simeone in his strategy and his choices.
    the easy after the game when i know result is to attack Simeone and make myself look smart with one or other.
    well i prefer the difficult road. so tomorrow i will wait the consequences of my support on Simeone 🙂 🙂 🙂
    Diego i am with you. faithful to you ha ha
    we live with our way and we die with our way. that is all about 🙂 🙂

    • I don’t understand why everyone is mad at simeone. All u have to do is look at athletico Madrid before he was the coach and after. Then tell me what u think.

      • i understand you. honestly i believe Simeone himself now that everything is over when he is relaxing at his home he will feel regret for the same reason too.

    • No hate brother, but Argentina is top 5 team in the world in FIFA rankings, and DePaul is one of our most important players, and Cholo can’t give him starter minutes? Es ridiculo, Cholo no puede adaptar la sistema que tiene para jugadores más grandes. Piensa pequeño, y todo para el es un guerra. Un técnico que no puede adaptar a su jugadores más grandes no merece tener buen jugadores. Debe diregir un equipo como Newells o Banfield. Estos tipos de equipos no tienen plata entonces juegan un estilo que abraza defensa. Pero Atleti gasta dinero a comprar estrellas, y utiliza estos estrellas como jugadores ordinarios. Este técnico no sirve hermano

      • i am answering in English just for people can understand us.
        it is clear that his strategy was to put FRESH De paul against less fresh city players and strike with him as “heavy weapon”. the impact of De paul was imidiete. just the result wasn t the wanted but really it could go either way.
        unfortunately Atletico didn t score.
        as about the rest you said i respect your opinion but personally i am in totally oposite side. i don t agree at all. i love Diego s “philosophy” and i am his “fan”. As about Atletico madrid it is not a club like Real or Barcelona or Bayern or any other football giant club. it was never like that historicaly. after Simeone start work in Atletico the club became elite. that is a fact. Cholo make Atletico elite club. Cholo never worked before in a European giant club. we can t know how he could be in a club like Real, Bayern, City, Barcelona. only guesses can be made. Nobody can know until we see him work in a club like this.
        As about his players in Atletico even the ones with big names all of them follow him as his warriors and love him. i never see anybody complained before. THE TEAM IS ABOVE EVERYBODY. this is a philosophy that i support 1000% nobody can be up of the team. if a player want to be up from the team then that player don t have place in the team.
        The same thinking i have as River plate fan for my own club people from small kid i became a River plate fan.

      • tu castellano apesta pa de donde sos? es el sistema, dirigir, una guerra, estas estrellas…. ojo con los artículos son muy importantes viviendo acá en caba te puedo contar que la gente te burlan mucho cuando hagas ese tipo de errores pero trancu después de tres años acá me siguen burlando igual jajjajjajaa

    • @cox4 I’m not so sure bro. I feel like Atletico has a decent amount of players to go toe to toe with Man City. It really is the coaching strategy. If Leeds United, Tottenham, etc can put a fight against Man City, why not Atletico Madrid? Today was a better display. Why not compete like this in both games to give your team a shot? I give credit to him though for what he has done with the club. However, it seems like this is their level and nothing more. How long can they go like this? It reminds me of Arsene Wenger and what he did for Arsenal until people got tired of mediocre. Sooner or later we want more. Like our NT, it’s been over 25 years and no glory. What do you think people would react if we lost this Copa to Brazil 3-0? Credit is due where credit is due. This team has money also to improve, but he makes attacking players cdm and right back with his style of play. Let’s not forget they used to play beautiful football when in possess in the days of Falcao, Diego Costa, and Fernando Torres. They always look like they could have done more in the champions league almost every year (they should have beaten RM, but he switched from attacking to total defense and it cost him).

      I feel like as great as Simeone is, he still holds the team back somehow. He even talks like a small coach.

      Simeone comments: “Often, people with a large vocabulary are very intelligent, and they manage to praise you with disrespect,” Simeone said. “But those of us who maybe have a smaller vocabulary, we’re not so stupid.

      “Football has a lot of facets. I won’t give my opinion on how the opponent behaved. We’ll focus on us, playing against maybe the best team in the world, and realising we could compete. But that doesn’t make me happy, the only thing that makes me happy is winning.”

      This is his response to Pep’s comments on his coaching. Even though Simeone is being sarcastic, it still expresses a defeatism mentality. This, “we are always underdogs” talk has to end. I never like it even when our NT coaches or players have spoken “diplomatically”. Of course, we should never come off cocky, but there is a way to speak with respect to opponents while maintaining confidence in speech. Scaloni used to speak in such a manner, but since COPA win he speaks like a champion. This why Simeone shouldn’t coach NT, because Argentina is not underdogs scrapping to “compete against the best”. We are among the best and the best fear us.

      • i read carefully your post. on your mentions.
        1. really i don t believe that Atletico could go toe to toe with City. i have the feeling if they do that City would win 4-2 or 5-2.
        something like that. But how can i say that you are wrong. i can t. we will never find out unfortunately.
        2.Atletico is not rich as City, Psg, Chelsea, Real or Barcelona or Bayern.
        Just i agree they can be improve. they are not poor.
        3.i agree with what he said to Guardiola. as about his rest words he just try look kind of hamble and keep ball low. maybe it looks like defeatism but i don t find it bad from my side. BUT again i can t say that you are wrong my friend. it is just how you receive it. you see it like this i can receive it differently. no argue.
        4.now there is no reason to speak for Simeone to coach national team. we don t need him. But never say never in life. maybe one day in future we will have one generation of players with not so high level of quality and we could find very useful one type of coach like him. He could create one good group with those kind of players which could bring success against odds. Just sure as long as we are among the best then we don t need him.

    • @cox4 I am totally in support with you

      Others have said the same. I will not repeat. Its the details. It worked for Villareal and didn’t for ATM. I hate the English media for hypocrisy. Man City did the same thing in last 15 mins. It won’t be red card if it was not ATM.

      But Correa should have finished it in 110 mins. These are the moments when careers are made, legends are made. These are the moments you that makes you believe in yourself.

  11. Last 45 min Atletico played power football thats nice to watch. What a great squad but simione played shity tactic..i think if athletico get more 20 min city might be concedes goal.. Angle corea is pure athlete and played good and should have been score, de pual as usal good..
    And i think Real Madrid is favourite than city
    .i always love la lega teams!

  12. In modern football, I would never like Simeone as a manager. He has such a good squad. Why did he play so badly? He is a bad coach. Very bad. A good manager can win the UEFA Champions League with this squad.

      • Im talking about simione.not how they play.why simione not play this attacking football in city why simione benched de paul both legs.simione uses ugly tactics always.

        • Simeone was looking for a goal less draw in city but his player selections cost him the match today. De-Paul’s creativity and ability to move the ball forward quickly and accurately could have been very useful had he started the match. After this season Correa specifically should move out from there , he has just entered his peak playing years and shouldn’t be wasting his time in Atletico under Simeone.

  13. Meanwhile I will be backing Real Madrid to qualify for the final so that they can silence cocky Looserpool fans, who always troll messi with that 4-0 comeback.

    • Don’t think Liverpool already in Final. This is Champions League. Villarreal defeated Juventus and Bayern. They are not joke. It will be difficult for Real defense to contain City attack.

      City vs Villarreal.

      This is my wish. Let a new team win it.

    • liverpool is very decent team with first 11 as well as bench player.this not those liverpool which lost to final 2017.this liverpool is very dangerous. What should you say about psg fans bowing on messi.it’s football and those things can happen occasionally.

  16. That was such a physical game…. Hope lautaro dont join atletico. Instead he can join PL club…. But dont think they will spend 80m. On him on current form….

    • I’d love lautaro there he fits perfectly. Atleti already play like Argentina on the counter and it suits him. I don’t want our players playing for these overated Brit teams. Same shit that happened to lo celso will happen to him there

  18. After DePaul and Correa came in.. Atletico shifted to attacking and there were many chances..but couldn’t score. Correa was with extra energy and grit.

  19. When De Paul & Correa came into the field, how dynamic football Atletico played! Just superb.
    & f**ker Simeone kept them in bench in both matches!! 😳😳😡😡 Really??!!
    Now eat ur own shit, dear man in black!

    Scaloni should learn from this & use Correa more, bcz he is a real talent & never got enough time to show his class..

    • Atleast de Paul should had that full 2nd half. When he entered the pitch atleti looks more dangerous. Simeone tactics worked only 70%. A correa looks very threatening. I think scaloni had choosen right there. Correa as a sub is perfect. But yeah seeing de Paul in a sub role is sad. He is always a warrior. In last minutes de Paul exchanging words with pep. Not looking good there.

      • He was exchanging word when all the City players started to lying on the ground and time wasting…
        Red card was because of Foden’s acting…all the issues started from there…

  21. Another poor match from otamendi. Liverpool exposing otamendi weakness big time. I still feel we should start with Romero lisandro Martinez cb pair in wc and otamendi should be the 1st backup.

    • You just stop.you dont about football.how r you?talking too much. What will Oramendi do alone? You are a foul man.a team with no loss in31 ganes and you say otamendi poor.go and play some football first.i think yoy are a brazil fan who always negetive with Argentina players.

  22. I respect Simeone a lot as a player, he is a legend, but i won’t give him a credit as a coach by any means. What is the logic of benching Correa and playing Felix or Lemar instead? Is it me or someone can please tell me what has Felix really done to justify all this hype?
    You have one of the best midfielders in the world in De Paul, who apart from his vision and skills, he never stops running, he is a warrior, he is your compatriot and you are still keeping him on the bench for a second game in a row, especially when you don’t have a positive result in the first game? I can’t find something rational on that.

    As i said, i respect Simeone but i also respect our players who don’t deserve this so i route for city to advance.

      • I don’t know if he is that good, personally i think that he is not close to Correa, but even if we accept that, what has he really done to cement his starting spot? He wasted two very good chances today already and he is not pressing that much either. For me he is way too overrated.

      • Felix is crap. He just only have skills but his work rate is very low c/f to Angel Correa. Nowonder that’s why he can’t break ahead of likes if JOTA, Andre Silva.

    • Felix is overrated. He can’t run for over 60 minutes. He is best suited as a super sub role. Especially Griezeman was not good. I hope Dybala doesn’t join this shitty club.

  23. According to TYC, the reason why FIFA delays whether it is 26 or 23 players squad is because othe European teams ask for the traditional 23 players squad.

    South American teams want 26 players. Brazil even ask for 28 players. But the Europe want 23 only. We’ll see if it is 23 or 26.

    If 23, many will be left out man.

    • If only 23 Dybala is very unlikely to be included, even at 26 not that likely. As things stand right now of course, still a few months might change it.

  24. Salah, mane, robertson, Trent Alexander arnold, virgil van dyk, Thiago all dropped from the starting 11.what kind of starting 11 in this?? R they underestimating Benfica too much??

    • Simeone is idiot. He is looser, hence will not win UCL or wins LL when barca and RM are out of depth.

        • Yes one by cheating by ref. and another when both Barca and RM had total collapse due to mismanagement. He cant go head to head with them despite spending more than them in transfer fees.

      • you can t call idiot 1 coach that won 2 La liga, 1 Europa league (copa del rey maybe.i don t remember now) and 2 times his team play in Ch.league final.
        All those with a club which was not Elite when he take the job. Simeone make Atletico Madrid an elite club. i get it you are sad for our players ok.
        just he is not idiot.

    • Yes what is he trying? He just absolutely fears citys attacking dominance. So again that ultra defensive strategy hoping to make the match upto a penalty shootout. But with this players how can they penetrate citys defense. I think may be cholo considers city as the ulitimate test. So a victory against city with any weird tactics is a pass for him and his team which can lead to UCL victory.

  26. “I’m happy that Foyth is performing reasonably well and is not committing silly errors any more”.

    EnganChe my friend sorry that i will destroy it to you but it is just oposite 🙂 🙂 🙂
    look what Foyth did in 25 th minute of yesterday match.
    let say forget about second half performance that he was exposed several times.
    forget about it.
    just watch 25th mimute of yesterday game!!!
    God protect us from the need of use this player in a world cup game.
    he is moving danger my friend. he is moving danger.
    for us of course not for our oponents unfortunately.

        • I don’t remember when it was but perhaps you got it right! And yes, I did notice the errors on his end where he tries to pass to his mate and it ends-up with Coman so close to the goal in the penalty area. He always was a bit behind in anticipating Coman’s movements and despite him holding his ground and frustrating him for about 60 odd minutes, he’s alright. He can definitely be a back-up and having Romero and Otamendi to mop some of his errors when he does them could help…

          • yes it was in 25th minute that big error that thankfully didn t cost to his team. for me Foyth should be used only as CB and only in cases that our oponents are defensive. Foyth have speed and can be used for cover possible fast counter attacks from the attackers of other team. his spead give him credit in transition. he can be very useful in those cases. i don t trust him in something else personally.

          • @cox4: I think he doesn’t have that ariel ability like Otamendi, Romero and even Lisandro. You’re right about him being a back-up for the back-ups and playing him in inconsequential games until he truly proves himself for a string of games without errors!

          • That’s a good point Cox. Foyth is a central defender with good pace and ball playing and passing skills. Ideal for a 3 at the back formation where he would be a RCB against a team that parks the bus and where we would need another player that could pass the ball well from the back. Scaloni does not pay a flat 4-4-2 that is used in Villareal and he tends to like overlapping fullbacks on both flanks.

      • Absolutely. Foyth doesn’t suit in most occasion. But like in copa final matches where 4 4 2 becomes crucial there foyth could be beneficial. I remember Montiel didn’t even pass the half way line during the copa final.

    • He is Montiel lover and River plate lover Montiel did not do anything to talk about while Foyth is playing great. Foyth best for RB.

  27. My prediction is correct, that moron benches De Paul and Correa again.

    GO AWAY from Atletico De Paul and Correa. You guys are much better than Atletico BENCH players!

      • Not just Guido or Molina. They are one of the favorites to sign Dybala too. And I heard they want Emi Martinez to replace Oblak? (Or to be Oblak bitch on the bench?)

        • I will reserve my judgement on Simeone until after the game. If he keeps playing the same stupid game as he did previously, he’s going to get roasted by football fans around the world again. He got a good team and he need to utilize them better!

    • Let’s hope the introduction of both players right after the 1st half will help Atletico secure a place in Semis and Simione will get to his senses. I don’t want them to lose the game as they could gain more exposure to intensity and tactical acumen playing Europe’s finest football competition.

    • We absolutely do, if we don’t have a proper back up we can easily get kicked out of the World Cup in the case that Lautaro is injured, suspended, or even if he’s not scoring. It’s ironic, we have so many riches in forward areas and historically have as well but a forward that is a) a proper number nine, b) playing for his club, c) fits our system hardly exists after Lautaro. I would take either Alario or Alvarez to the WC and if I had to choose now it’s most likely Alvarez that would go. Alario is a really good finisher but he isn’t getting minutes and gets injured as well. Alvarez is much more of a proper #9 than Dybala and Correa so there is no problem there, except that he may not have experience against top teams now. Maybe him going to City in June would be the best outcome after all. Icardi should at this point be fully out of the question

      • @olive he is going to city in June but i read somewhere he will be loaned to some small club immediately. And u don’t know he will get minutes in premier League or not so i think he better stay at river until wc

        • He is not guaranteed to go to City in June because if River stays in the Libertadores we get to keep him unless they pay 1.7 million to bring him, in which case it would be weird for them to not want to play him at least a little. City have no striker and even their 17 year old Brazilian Kayky got to play in the Premier League this season so I don’t see why Alvarez can’t get some chances. Even if he doesn’t play he will train with the City players which will give him more experience against top opposition

          • He already played against South American teams and trained with messi Aguero lautaro Romero etc so not like he never trained with great players important is playing against top defense regularly

    • Alvarez to city might not have been a good move he might end up in bench remember they did not pay a lot of money to get him….WTF…the same old thing that happens to most arg talents…

  31. Lo Celso has everything you would want in a well rounded midfielder: great first-touch, which is so essential in tight areas up and down the pitch, his vision coupled with his ability to pick out the most amazing of passes (like he his pre assist to Gerard Moreno) as well as an undoubtable eye for goal. On top of that he has that tenacity and aggression that make him truly box-to-box and so helpful for defensive contribution. He truly is a special talent. If he, De Paul and Paredes perform to the best of their ability, plus Messi magic, Romero’s wall, Emi’s saves, Lautaro’s high conversion rate for the NT, then we’d be a formidable force to be reckoned with.

    I’m happy that Foyth is performing reasonably well and is not committing silly errors any more. This invaluable CL experience would be crucial for his role as an emergency, back-up RB in the NT or as a third back-up CB behind Pezzella and Licha.

      • Nope, I did not, read the last sentence again.

        I missed Di Maria though, his contribution might be key again. Plus we have decent depth off the bench in Nico Gonzalez (might actually be a starter in some games, Papu, Guido, Tagliafico, Musso/Rulli, etc)

    • If injury curse stays away from us then we do have a chance to shot at final. Gio,De paul and Paredes has to be healthy and inform . Only back up I see missing is De paul position. Scaloni and Co still searching for it. Like Guido is automatic replacement of Paredes,Papu is replacement of Lo Celso but anyone yet to convince to take De paul position. Palacio showed glimpses of hope
      a little but injury ruined him.

      • De Paul and Lo Celso are 2 starters. The back up is only one: Papu Gomez. That is enough. A tournament as prestigious as World Cup, not all 23 (or 26) players will get to play. Sometimes only 17-18 of them throughout the tournament.

        Other back ups are just for insurance purpose (in case De Paul and Lo Celso are injured/unavailable together) or something like that.

      • Enzo Fernandez can be a backup of both locelso/papu and depaul. I don’t think papu is the backup of locelso actually depending on opposition he will start ahead of locelso. So against top teams locelso will start and against lesser opponents papu will start

      • We’re still months away and it’s too early to say who will start for sure. If the world cup was tomorrow I’d say we would likely have a 4-2-3-1 with Emi; Molina, Romero, Otamendi, Acuna; Paredes, De Paul; Lo Celso, Messi, Di Maria; Lautaro.

      • Yes we have the audacity to call them mediocre because they create very few chances every match. This midfield is solid defensively, hard working but their passing r slow and most of the time they r devoid of creativity. Papu has some creativity and messi has to drop deep to help in creativity. In the later part of copa we have seen some flashes of good passing and chemistry but again in recent qualifiers we struggled against equador against their high press. If we face spain you will see how they will dominate our midfield. That’s why we need a midfielder like enzo Fernandez

        • Enzo Fernandez is only starting out, if De Paul, Paredes, and Lo Celso can’t help us, there’s no way an inexperienced player like Enzo will.

          We do not need to dominate possession by the way. Scaloni and co can adjust tactics according to our opponent. He’s not married to a particular style of play.

          • Yes scaloni is a good coach and adjusted with the style of play because we don’t have the best midfielders or even fullbacks in the world so he knows our limitations and adjust according to that. Btw mbappe also started out bt still there best player in 2018 wc even varane was quite young at the time. U can’t ignore talent because of age and experience. Super talented players always make difference irrespective of their age that’s why scaloni could try out garnacho also last 10-15 minutes appearance when defenses r tired garnacho can change the complexion of the match with his speed i don’t think anyone is faster than him right now in Argentina squad

  32. I am really happy with the result mainly because the three Argentines would be now exposed to another tense match up with another world class team. This Villareal team has already exceeded expectations by winning Europa cup last year and by beating Juve and Bayern this year. So I am not worried about the result but interested in seeing how the 3 react to Liverpool pressure.
    A match at this level of CL and with such top class opponent gives a lot of confidence and experience which cannot be matched by having training sessions.

    • Liverpool will beat Villarreal but it wont be easy. Emery is tactical genius and this Villarreal team runs like Crazy. IF Benefica can give Liverpool trouble, so can Villarreal. Only wish is RM not to win CL.

      • Real Madrid won’t get crowned. Coz atleast in semi and final they won’t get easy chances like they got against PSG and Chelsea. Both these teams made 1 big error in the back and that made real into the semis. Yeah but as far as Benzema is concerned he fully deserved this. But real as a team is not deserved to play in semis

  33. This is my 26 for Qatar 2022
    Players Position
    Emi GK
    Rulli GK
    Musso GK
    Romero CB
    Otamendi CB
    Lisandro CB
    Pezzella CB
    Foyth RB
    Molina RB
    Accuna LB
    Tagliafico LB
    Paredes DMF
    G.Rodriguez DMF
    Lo Celso CM
    De Paul CM
    Alexis Mac AM
    Lanzini AM
    Di Maria RW
    Messi RW
    Ocampos LW
    N.Gonzalez LW
    Pappu SS
    Dybala SS
    A.Correa SS
    Julian alvarez CF
    Lautaro Martínez  CF

    I think here we have at-least 2 players for one position. Which I believe is balanced. Wots your thought on this 26.
    11 should be decide based on opposition and situation.

    • who are the backup of RDP and lo celso both play in first team if any one is suspended your team goes for a toss. you need more box to box CM in 26 man squad. you defence need to have more depth for 7 matches of world cup.

    • McAllister and Ocampos? God forbid should scaloni go with such average players. Alteast you drop useless Joaquin Correa. Instead of McAllister I would go for Enzo Fernandez as back up to that Midfield since he is a great box to box midfielder.

      As for Ocampos replace him with Alario who is a striker/CF.

      • I’m never a fan of J.correa. We got better players than him. Even I love to see Enzo but till date he hasn’t been a part of the NT. So I doubt Scaloni will select him. Mac is average I agree only thing he plays in EPL and is regular. Alario is neither injured or playing as a sub were as ocamp is kind of regular for Sevilla and is physical.

  34. Hopefully Scaloni will not repeated the same mistake , ignoring the Champion of UCL in WC 2010, Zanetti. Although Villarreal is not the champion yet but Lo Celso is a starting XI, call Foyth and Rulli should be called 4 years back.

    Appreciate to Unai Emery who always put a trust on Arg players; he will left and go to Newcastle United next season

  36. Bayern is overrated. Liverpool will be the real test for Villarreal and all 3 locelso, foyth, rulli will be tested. Specially it will be tough test for foyth. Can he tackle mane?? That will decide his future for the national team

  37. Lo celso is pure class..what a player man..when he get ball its feel something going to happen like lio messi.He played class at real betis but at Tottenham not…i think in spurs he is not get proper time and always suffered with injury. But with Argentina he is always good.. As only 26, i think more of master class football are coming like Others day i said with villarreal its resurrection of gio celso

    • He is good for small teams who will defend for 90 minutes and try to hit opponent with counter attack but not for Argentina who is famous for their beautiful game and possession based game he lacks control but if scaloni wants to play ultra defensive he can be the ideal choice

      • “He is good for small teams who will defend for 90 minutes and try to hit opponent with counter attack …”
        That is an objectively wrong statement. Real Betis in his breakaway year were one of the most enterprising teams in la liga.And he scored loads of goals there. His playing profile is more suited for open play teams in reality. But because he is so good with defence as well there are some coaches like Mourinho who used that side of him and thus made him look like he is a player of that kind of system. GLC is a versatile and intelligent player who can adapt to different systems.

  38. The game of Villarreal should also be a good lesson for Emi Martinez. Who knows he might be visiting this site once in a while as he speaks good english.

    Emi is world class and is only 28 years of age who plays for a mediocre Aston Villa. He would waste his career as a world class goalie who will never enter Champions league if he stays there. Let’s be realistic. EPL top 6 will always be: Liverpool, City, Chelsea, Spurs, MU, and Arsenal. It will likely stay this way for years to come.

    In order to make CL, u have to finish top 4. In order to make UEFA Europe league, u have to be 5th best. AND next year I am sure New Castle, the world richest club will buy a lot of stars so they surely would be better than Villa. In fact I won’t be surprised if Dybala will end up there next season.

    No way Villa would make to top 6, let alone top 4. At best they would finish 7th or 8th. Emi should think about this. He is not short of suitors. He is world class and is young enough. I am fine if our players play for small clubs but not “that” small. Think of Batigol’s Fiorentina. A mediocre clubs in his era, he even played in serie B with Fiorentina one season. But at least they made the CL.

    So Emi Martinez, I know your spot in Argentina is not in danger, but consider move somewhere this summer. You are too good, I mean way too good for Aston Villa. I know u had an excellent Copa America and will have a good World Cup, but a player like u deserves a CL futbol. You should request to move to a bigger team.

    Note: I will copy and paste this and send it to Emi Martinez instagram private message. Who knows he will read it.

  39. @Anuparno: Man, you are so negative and stressed out and rarely do give credit to the players who play well. I would sum up Lo Celso’s game similar to what you did if I have no idea what sort of a tactical game is being played and who’s role is what…You got the former right but not the later. Check out each of the player roles more keenly and you will enjoy the sport more. There’re layers to the game and I get sick of people telling who ever scores is the winner and the rest are losers etc.

    • I agree with you.. She is nothing know about football. She is in love with Buendia,mac alester and any young talents what she heard the names😊

  40. And tonight that coach is gonna bench De Paul and Correa again and when they are losing, he would put De Paul and Correa again in the 75th minutes but still losing. That is my prediction.

    • He’ll probably starts both of them, then if they could sneak an equalizer he’d ask those 2 to help to defend for the rest of the game and wait for shootout. They’ll probably conceided late goal though.

    • That ‘fact’ is very misleading, they might’ve only had 2 shots on target but they had 5 legit scoring oppertunties (3 in the 1st leg and 2 in 1st half of the 2nd leg) where Moreno and co. skyed the shot instead of just hitting it on target.
      Congrats to Villareal and our Argentine boys, because this was a legitimate win against Bayren where Villareal outplayed the Bavarians in both halves of the first leg, then they shut them down in the 1st half of the second leg and they only held on to dear life at the last 45 mins of today’s match.

  42. If this Villarreal somehow manage to win the CL or at least to reach the final of CL, it would:
    1. Make Lo Celso be his important player more than ever as he showed he can play 90 minutes, which is good news.
    2. Make Rulli his second goalie for sure beating Armani and Musso
    3. Be harder to ignore Foyth as the back up of Molina as Montiel currently losing his spot. Maybe Scaloni will make Montiel the third RB now and Foyth the second and bring both to the WC.

      • All three rbs montiel, Molina and foyth should be included if the wc was next month. Also both acuna and tagla on the opposite back. We cannot spare change this position. We may be able to get away with leaving our a forward like dybala, but we need to have extra backups for all defensive positions

        • we need 3GK + 9 defenders + 7 midfielders + 7 forwards. that give us requisite balance also we have to consider 4 of our players are above 33 that are di maria ,messi papu and otamendi so while selecting team need to consider their backups as well. papu can not be a backup to messi because of age. buendia can be useful because of his versatility as he can cover both di maria and messi position.

          • Chances of buendia getting selected is becoming thin he is not getting minutes in aston Villa and also not playing particularly well so i don’t think he will be selected

    • Foyth will be going to the WC.
      Molina can play in defense and midfield. His scoring ability is improving. He’s like a pure winger. Can’t ignore him.
      Montiel will go or not…will be depends on his form.

  43. Villareal put on a tactical master class today. Clearly the better team over the two legs. And GLC oh my god. As someone already said it couldnt have been a better idea to move to Villareal. The way they have been roasting Bayern on their fb page is hilarious. Check it out if you havent !

  46. So who actually watched the match? I know the score and I know the great yellow submarine is back, but can anyone tell me how our boys did on the field ?
    Thanks

  49. Yellow submarine stun the Munchen superiority; a great comeback from the blues leading 3-0 but unfortunately not good enough. Benzema is the nomination for Ballon d’Or.

  50. That is some funny shit, MIGHTY BM losing to lonely Villarreal and thinking what we all have thought, Lewi ain’t winning shit this year, as in NO ballon d’Or for the Polish either…..keep talking Bitch

  51. It’s not easy to disposes Lo-Celso. The pre-assist he made under such pressure tells how good his vision is!! Similar to Messi, every time he receives the ball he tends to make something happen!

    • His ball control has been great. Got for NT. Scaloni always like the players who can control the ball in tight situation. Paredes and DePaul are good in that.

  52. Lo Celso could not have made a better decision than to join Villarreal. What an incredible club for three of our players to be represented in. Maybe it’s a possible club for Tagliafico or Senesi if Pau torres is sold. I hope they can go further although the chances of that are very low. As for tomorrow the chances for Man City to pass are highest although I am sure Simeone has a different game planned from the Manchester one and perhaps De Paul will start as he did against United. I feel that anything can happen tomorrow. For Otamendi I only hope for him to play well although I don’t expect them to pass.

  53. Can someone please help me out here, I am still waiting to see when the Bayern “gangbang” to PSG is going to happen. It’s been a year. If you know you know 😉

    -1 for Romance King and +1 for Kevin because his client is now going to attract much more business attention. Google results have actually doubled since yesterday

  54. Mr annpurno you think Messi is mediocre..you think lol celso mediocre..
    Prior to start world cup qualifiers you were posting that Argentina defence will struggle vs equador Colombia and with Brazil we will get hammered..
    The results what happened we all know..so please leave the forum and if you are fan of other team go there
    .

  55. I really really want lo celso to put some man of the match performance and win the champions legue. Its gonna make massive defrence to argentinas midfield if he do it will lifit the team spirit more and more that they have a midfielder who was workhorse of champions legue team plus the opposition will be finally have confusion that who do they mark messi or lo celso or de paul.
    The kind of situvation opposition teams never had against us because they knows its messi they need to mark.since messi and depaul gets more offeten get fouled if lo celso emerges then they have real confusion and we will be superior

      • Mediocre? Lo Celso is one of those players who for whatever reason gets criticized way more than others despite doing nothing wrong or poor. He literally had a man of the match last week against the same team. Nobody was expecting Lo Celso to play the same game he did last week because Villarreal’s tactics and gameplan was going to be very different. He did everything he had to and was supposed to do to get this result. People criticize Lo Celso and then start sounding the alarms when Mac Allister gets in the team. You get what you wish for as the saying goes. Even before last week people were heavily criticizing him lol. He’s never played badly for us and has played better for us than his clubs almost always.

      • , @anuparano did u watch villareal last season? They were just well organised defence team bur now with lo celso they have good dynamics its shows his class. I am a huge fan of lo celso since his psg days, i was disappointed he wasnt in playing 11 in 2018wc all in all he , de oaul and pardees i am happy with the midfield we have

        • Locelso made bayern his bet by giving 68% possession?? 😂😂 accept it bayern absolutely dominated Villarreal midfield. Bayern had 23 shots on goal with Villarreal only having 4.villareal parked the bus just like Chelsea did against guardiola’s barca. Its extremely tough to beat a team who parked bus. This is pure negative football.

          • You have any idea how a goal leading team will play? Bayern wanted 2 goals to proceed (with Villarreal not scoring) but Villarreal needed just one goal. So you can’t expect a free flowing football from Villarreal.

    • Yeah with GLC winning the UCL we will have a monster of a squad and it will seriously boost our confidence…..but it looks like Requelme situation in 2006 a team like Villarreal can only go so far…..

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