Seven out of the ten Argentine players qualified for the next round of the Europa League.
Joaquín Correa and Leandro Balerdi’s Marseille advanced to the semifinals after defeating Nicolás Otamendi and Ángel Di María’s Benfica On penalty kicks. The aggregate was 2-2 and the French team won 4-2 in the shootout. While Di María missed his penalty, Otamendi, Correa and Balerdi converted from the spot.
Juan Musso’s Atalanta moved to the semifinals as they beat Alexis Mac Allister’s Liverpool 3-1 on aggregate. Both Argentines played the full 90 minutes In both legs.
Newly crowned Bundesliga champions Exequiel Palacios and Bayer Leverkusen defeated West Ham 3-1 on aggregate and qualified for the next round. The former River Plate man played the full 90 minutes in both legs.
Paulo Dybala and Leandro Paredes’ AS Roma advanced to the semifinals after defeating Milan 3-1 on aggregate. Dybala scored his team’s second goal in the second leg.
There will be at least one Argentine player per team in the Europa League semifinals as these are the matchups:
Marseille (Joaquín Correa and Leandro Balerdi) vs. Atalanta (Juan Musso and José Luis Palomino)
Bayer Leverkusen (Exequiel Palacios) vs. AS Roma (Paulo Dybala and Leandro Paredes)
Unpopular opinion.
Enzo Fernandez has been very lazy. Manchester City running circles around Chelsea in the midfield but Enzo can’t make runs. I know he made a brilliant pass to Jackson, apart from that he has been disappointing. Honestly he should have blocked that KDB’s pass leading to goal.
Both half fit Enzo and out of form Alvarez are back in the lineup today. Its about time both of these player score some goals and boost their confidence. This is a great opportunity especially for Alvarez who can take advantage of Haaland’s poor run of form and challenge for the starting striker spot. However the issue is Alavrez is often ghosted and ignored by his envious team-mates while Enzo’s progressive passes and positioning is wasted by his mediocre team-mates! Regardless of which team wins I want our boys to get back to form.
ARMANI has extended his contract with River Plate and made a comment that he aspires to play another WORLD CUP. But he would consider his national team career post COPA AMERICA and may retire. According to him he is performing great. Please my MUNDO FRIENDS tell me don’t we have good young goalkeepers in ARGENTINA who have the ability to replace ARMANI. WE immediately need some young goalkeepers because EMI, RULLI, MUSSO , PAULO GAZZANIGA are of the same age and they are not getting any younger. Of late no other goalkeeper except AUGUSTO BATALLA has gone to Europe. SCALONI had big hope on FEDERICO GOMEZ GERTH but he can’t manage to stop a normal ball .
Goalkeeper age is less of a concern, they peak later than outfield players. Many goalkeepers continue to perform at a high level well into their 30s and some even in their early 40s, as long as they maintain their sharpness and agility. Goalies typically peak in their early 30s. So Dibu is at his peak for example. It is partly because their role relies more on experience, decision-making, and technical skill rather than pure physicality. They often improve with age as they get more playing time, face different situations, refine their techniques, etc, etc…Bottom line is, we don’t necessarily need a young gk just yet, many of our good keepers are still in their prime…
Transfer rumours: Cristian Medina (Boca) Brighton and Tottenham, Tomas Parmo (Independiente 16 years old) Mastantuono, Anselmino and Subiabre are all scouted by Real, Barca, PSG, MU, City and others., Ruberto Arsenal, Chelsea, City.
Aston villa has changed there were time we concerned emi spoiling his career there
Now they are the brighton of the season
I wish any young argentine to move to aston vila soon since they are rapid progressing team it will be ideal wish aguestin Roberto can go there
Augusto Batalla is a good gk, Scaloni could consider him to replace Armani
Really? I think we have a whole bunch of goalkeepers that are better than Batalla: Musso, Ledesma, Gazzaniga, probably even Rulli…
Olympique Marseille fans have started a campaign with a hashtag (#BalerdiCopaAmerica2024), which has gained considerable momentum among their fanbase, recognizing the defender’s stellar season with Les Olympiens. 🇦🇷
From albicelestestalk
There used to be a time when Champions league big powerhouses were stacked with Argentine players but now our core and important players play for second tier clubs. Yes, the world cup has changed this a bit , with some of our players moving to big teams in high tier leagues but still big clubs are still more interested in buying French , Brazilian and African players as opposed to Argentine players.
There used to be a time when Champions league big powerhouses were stacked with Argentine players but now our core and important players?
When? So few argentine players played in UCL finals at all.
Milan, Juventus, Real, Barcelona, Bayern and MU were the UCL powerhouses in 90s early 2000s, imo never played more than 3-4 argentines at the same time in these clubs, from late 2000s, 10s and nowadays City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Real, Barcelona, Bayern. Clubs with a lot of argentines were B-tier clubs (Valencia, Atletico, Inter, PSG).
SulaV, minor issue, we are still Copa America and World Cup champions! Most of our players are in good clubs and are playing in strong leagues against challenging opponents. Playing time and good competitive leagues are more important IMO than playing for a big club.
Walter Samuel scouted Molina when he was still playing for Udinese. It was his national team form that brought him to Atletico Madrid. Julian Alvarez, Enzo and Mac Allister barely moved to Europe when they started shining for us. Yeah, it’s nice when most of our guys play for elite clubs but sometimes it’s better when they play for a club where they fit as long as it’s a strong league too. For example, I can’t imagine a better club for Paredes than Roma, especially under De Rossi.
Totally agree with Enganche
Belardi, Palacios and Dybala made Europe league team of the week from WhoScored