Argentina rumored XI vs. Ecuador, Lionel Messi and Lautaro Martinez to start

By
Roy Nemer
-
11

A possible Argentina starting eleven is being reported with Lionel Messi and Lautaro Martínez starting.

Argentina national team coach Lionel Scaloni had all of his players training on Wednesday, including Lionel Messi who missed Argentina’s 2-0 win vs. Peru. According to Gastón Edul, here is the rumored eleven:

Emiliano Martínez; Molina, Romero, Lisandro, Tagliafico; De Paul, Alexis, Enzo, Nicolás González; Messi, Lautaro

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11 Comments

  1. This is a 4-4-1-1 formation with Messi in a roaming role. De Paul as a RM and Nico Gonzalez as a LM to match Ecuador’s usual 4-4-2. Both are great at tracking back and helping the fullbacks. Enzo and Mac double pivot is OK, as they might take turns at bombing forward. Lautaro vs Julian is a toss up for me, I suppose with Toro being in red hot scoring form, it’s hard for Scaloni to ignore that. If he gets service and scores then we are in good shape. Julian can do the pressing on a more tired defense and still make an impact.

    • I completely agree on starting Lautaro over Julian. Toro is in the best form of his life and the top scorer in one of the toughest league in the world. While Julian is no way a bad striker and has scored some really difficult goals this season even with limited time in a striker role but his finishing and clinicality has somewhat declined and it has everything to do with Pep playing him in a non striker role frequently. It would be a crime to bench in-form Lautaro , especially with Messi who is struggling to find the net and isn’t fully fit. Julian can be as effective, if not more so when pressing agasint tired opposition legs.

    • Agreed completely about Toro and Julian situation. Julian lost a little bit his finishing instinct and I blame pep a little for this. Game against Chile Julian should’ve scored that cross Nico provided knowing him since his River days on that other side Toro in hot form. His goal against chile was from a striker who is in form. It wasn’t easy to finish in first touch I swear. However it won’t matter if Julian comes off from bench or not coz at the moment Scaloni and Co made this team like a polished machine. Everyone knows everyone’s job and they all are competing with each other with much respect and love. I don’t know if you guys noticed how much happy Julian was when Toro scored and it is nice to see those atmosphere in the team

  2. Tough match ahead. Our fullbacks will be targetted as easy prey. Is Molina still relevant? We’ll see.

    19 year Geronimo Domina, Union winger is targetted by newly promoted Southampton. A loan move proposal was rejected. They are in talks to sign him permanently.

      • River Plate have signed goal keeper Ledesma from Cadiz. Hopefully he benches Armani, meaning that guy would be out of the NT.
        River Plate have also signed CD Valentín Gomez from City Group (the group bought 100% of Gomez’ ownership from Velez and have loaned him to River).
        River have brought Gattoni on loan from Sevilla and Franco Carboni on loan from Inter.

  3. How interesting it would be to see the spider and the bull start up front if the flea doesn’t start.
    But I agree, if Messi starts then we put Alvarez ahead of him to start.
    Since Roy put Depauls glorious face as the cover of this post then we will be doing a variation of beef today.
    *Sharpening Parrillero Blade*

    • I read somewhere about a player who motivated and helped lautaro to continue his carrer in those racing days. I forgot his name. It was in 2014 or something that particular player was the first choice forward in racing from the academies or something and lautaro was dissatisfied with his calibre and wanting to quit football and go home and this particular player gave inspiring words to toro to continue his carrer. And its getting more beautiful with the comeback of toro.

  4. Would prefer Julian any day because of the pressing. He spoils the attacking rhythm of the opponent in their half itself. So defence begins early. Lautaro is bit more laid back. So Lautoro as a super-sub for last 30 mins is a better option. Anyway, starting from tomorrow every match is going to be super tough. The main thing would be who holds the nerves till the end. So far in this tournament Scaloni’s team has not been able to show their finesse which was present in 2022. There had been quite a few scary moments in front of the goal, more than five 1-1 chances missed, missed passes and unforced technical errors. With sub-par refereeing, knock-out stage can get even more interesting.

  5. Except against uruguay and brazil nico can show his full potential. And also lautaro. If the opposition has quality in attack means it has to be julian upfront. His pressing makes me happier than anything as it feels like there is always an expectation that the opposition would make a blunder or two. Yes lautaro is scoring goals but i still prefer julian all the way. I always feels like lautaro as nico playing in the striker role and julian as di maria playing in the striker role. I dont know the reason may be the world cup effect. But yeah even if its a prime lautaro and out of form julian to choose i would go for julian. Coz in the Argentine jersey julian is a safe bet coz of his relentless pressing and he always has that good touch and passing to support messi and even play and adjust to a player like nico also.

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