Nico Paz scored twice for Como in their 3-0 win against Lazio.
Paz had two goals for Como and missed a penalty kick in their win. The Argentina made it eight goals and six assists in 21 league matches with Como.
With Como leading 1-0, the ball fell to the Argentine inside the penalty area and he scored to give Como the 2-0 lead. At 2-0, Como were awarded a penalty kick and it was Paz who took it but it was saved by the goalkeeper.
The Argentine would get another goal. At 2-0, Paz received the ball on the edge of the penalty area and he scored his second goal of the match. Máximo Perrone also started the match for Como.
Nico Paz, Dybala, Soule, Mastantuano all play in similar (though not exactly the same) roles/positions on the pitch, and with Messi in the team playing there, its a very tough decision for Scaloni on whom to prioritize.
At this point I would not mind if our starting midfield is Enzo, Mac Allister and Nico Paz. De Paul can come in the last 20 minutes. He is already 21, will have had significant minutes by the start of the WC, he is a well rounded midfielder, it is not just flair, his defensive stats are pretty decent too, he is tall, 186 cm. Enzo was also 21 when he played for Argentina is Qatar with less time in Europe.
I am eager to witness that development, particularly commencing with the match against Spain in March. I believe Lionel Scaloni should explore opportunities for Nico Paz to be included in the starting lineup. A deeper midfield role, perhaps as an 8 or a half-10, would likely optimize his involvement in the game, rather than positioning him as a winger or in a role similar to Lionel Messi.
From what I’ve seen Nico Paz is very similar in his playing style to Alexis. Both are ‘Engaches’ with high footballing IQs and the willingness to do the dirty work so I see them competing for the same spot in the future. I can also see them playing together if Scaloni uses the formation that he did for the Brazil (4-1) game:
————————-Julian/Lautaro———Messi/Almada———————–
———–Enzo———————Allister——————–Paz——————–
————————————-Paredes——————————————
Basically a 4-1-3-2 formation where Enzo, Allister and Paz (replacing De Paul) all play b-2-b while Paredes stays behind to protect the back line. Now I personally don’t want to see Paredes in there at all because despite his good form in the WCQ he has been a let down in the big tournaments like copa 21 and especially the WC and if it were up to me I would get Perrone or Varela to occupy that position but I don’t see Scaloni doing that.
Tbh I only started watching Paz recently and so far Nico Paz has played in attacking position with the team kind of built around him. It will be nice to see if he can adapt into our midfield though. It could actually help balance our starting xi, allowing us to field one extra midfielder to help control the possession.
He is one of the best young players in Serie A
Will be very useful for Argentina in WC26