Argentina national team coach Lionel Scaloni has selected five midfielderes for the Finalissima match against Italy as we review their season.
Lionel Scaloni will not be able to count on Leandro Paredes as he is out with an injury. He underwent surgery at the beginning of April will not recover for the match.
Only one Argentine midfielder was able to win a club trophy this season and that was Guido Rodríguez. The 28 year old won the Copa del Rey with Real Betis and finds himself with a good chance of starting for Argentina in the Finalissima match against Italy on June 1 at Wembley.
Guido Rodríguez has often started for Argentina with Rodrigo De Paul and Gio Lo Celso in midfield. This season for Real Betis, the Argentine played 47 matches, with two goals and three assists. Here were his numbers for the season:
47 matches, 2 goals, 3 assists
La Liga: 32 matches, 1 goal, 2 assists
Europa League: 9 matches, 1 goal, 1 assist
Copa del Rey: 6 matches
A player who did start Argentina’s last two matches is Alexis Mac Allister. The Brighton midfielder appears to have gained a place in the team. Still only 23 years old, he played 36 matches for Brighton, scoring five goals and having four assists. Here were his numbers:
36 matches, 5 goals, 4 assists
Premier League: 33 matches, 5 goals, 2 assists
FA Cup: 1 match, 0 goals, 0 assists
EFL Cup: 2 matches, 0 goals, 0 assists
One player that will start for Argentina in the Finalissima is Rodrigo De Paul. The engine of the Argentina midfield, he is the midfielder with the most matches this season as he played 48, scoring four times and assisting two times. Here were his numbers:
48 matches, 4 goals, 2 assists
La Liga: 36 matches, 3 goals, 2 assists
Champions League: 9 matches, 1 goal, 0 assists
Copa del Rey: 2 matches, 0 goals, 0 assists
Supercopa: 1 match, 0 goals, 0 assists
Exequiel Palacios is back in the Argentina team. The 23 year old has suffered many injuries which have slowed down his progress with Argentina but a solid 32 matches for Bayer Leverkusen with three goals and two assists got him back in the Argentina team. Here were his numbers:
Bundesliga: 23 matches, 2 goals, 2 assists
Europa League: 7 matches, 1 goal, 0 assists
DFB-Pokal: 2 matches, 0 goals, 0 assists
Gio Lo Celso did not have a good first half of the season but finished as one of La Liga’s best midfielders. On loan at Villarreal from Tottenham, Lo Celso reached the semi finals of the Champions League with him playing 41 matches this season, scoring twice and assisting three times. Here were his numbers:
41 matches, 2 goals, 3 assists
La Liga: 16 matches, 1 goal, 1 assist
Champions League: 6 matches
Premier League: 9 matches, 0 goals, 0 assists
Conference League: 3 matches, 1 goal, 1 assist
CL Qualifiers: 2 matches, 0 goals, 0 assists
FA Cup: 1 match, 0 goals, 1 assist
EFL Cup: 4 matches, 0 goals, 0 assists
Mid field is the area where clearly Italy has an advantage. De Paul did not do well in Spain. Lo Celso was inconsistent. But they try to give their best when in the white and blue stripes. Guido should be the third one to start because of his defensive capabilities. However, if Mac Allister starts he would be expected to play a pressing game right up-front. He is young, he should share the load of the pressing game with Lautaro. Whoever plays the pressing game in the first 15 mins, would be at an advantage.
My top 10 for WC 2022
1 Argentina
2 England
3 Brazil
4 France
5 Spain
6 Germany
7 Belgium
8 Portugal
9 Netherland
10 Denmark
Out of those Spain and Germany can upset anyone in a given day.
England no. 2 😂🤣😹😹
Anyone of Mundo going to see Finallisima? I will be there with albiceleste jersey. If anyone is going please reply here. We can have beer before the match. 😃
I’m jealous! Hope you can watch Argentina win another trophy there!!
Will Julian Alvarez stay with River till Velez-River last 16 Libertadores matches?
I don’t think so
Yes, he leaves to Man City after the round of 16
Will he play in Primera too?
Good question, I myself thought it was just the Libertadores since last year primera started after the round of 16 commenced, but this year it is earlier (I’d assume because of the World Cup), so he has 5 games he’ll play in primera (excluding Defensa y Justicia because of the finalissima) and two in libertadores, of which the second will be his last game in the monumental. After that he travels I believe.
mac allister is a starter in a pretty good premier league club unlike buendia.
Palacios or domingoz did nothing compare to mac allister (epl lvl)
Once again, people acting like one of the best Serie A midfielders this season is nothing. Im convinced only two or three people on this site have watched him play outside of the NT
dominguez was better than palacios this season.
I like Allister but he was down right awful when he started for the NT in the last 2 matches and to say Domninguez “did nothing” compared to Allister is just ignorant, no offense intended Fahad.
Dominguez is pure class, defensively and creatively, the kid is a ‘5’ and a b-2-b combined into one and I will continue to shout it from the roof tops that the kid is the best midfield prospect Argentina has at the moment, whether Scaloni rates him or not.
So Mascherano is Menotista (a bit different from Scaloni). Our Argentina future will have the DNA of tiki taka.
Javier Mascherano aiming to ‘resemble Luis Enrique’ as a coach
Mascherano took charge of the Argentina Under-20 side in January and spoke about how much he’s been influenced by former Barca coaches Lucho and Pep Guardiola.
“I intend to resemble Luis Enrique closely [as a coach] because I know I’ll never be able to reach Pep [Guardiola],” he said.
“I lived three spectacular years with Luis Enrique. When we talk about the importance of coaches for a footballer it has nothing to do with the titles but with the importance in your career.
“The most influential may be Pep because of the drastic change but Luis Enrique gave our ideas another twist. Pep is incomparable, a genius impossible to imitate.
“I think Luis is up there with Pep but he is more attainable for those of us who want to be coaches.”
Source | Mundo Deportivo
It will certainly be interesting to see how Mascherano’s coaching career develops. There has already been talk that the Argentine could end up back at Barcelona in some kind of coaching capacity in the future
So Angel Correa finally wants out. I hope it is true. It should be easy for him to find a new club. It is a warning to the current Argentina seleccion players: Do not go to Atletico! The other day I read Molina speaks highly of Atletico. That’s wrong Molina! Remember what happened to Ansaldi.
De Paul out too please.
If De Paul were somewhere else not in Atletico, he would have had at least 10 goals and 10 assists easily.
If we see this goal and assists number thn McAllister has a better season. But is it?? No. So this stats is misleading
He actually had a great progress in the season. Gained coach’s confidence , is a key player in Potter’s plans and in the latter was a key player in big matches.
Apart from goals and assists you should provide number of key passes per game number of touches per game passes completed per game defensive contribution per game etc. That would have been better to understand their performance this season
Agreed. Key passes are as important as Assist and Goals. What made Messi the greatest of his generation is ability to generate multiple key passes beside his unearthly goal scoring skills ofcourse.
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