Lionel Messi scored for FC Barcelona in their 2-0 win vs. Sevilla.
Messi continues to extend his lead in the Pichichi race as he scored goal number 19 of the season. With Barcelona leadind 1-0, Messi would receive the ball on the edge of the penalty area, dribble in and while his initialy shot would be saved by the goalkeeper, he would get to his own rebound and score.
He has now scored 38 goals and has 19 assists in 42 games vs. Sevilla.
Jorge Sampaoli has been named as the new coach of Olympique Marseille.
Sampaoli has officialy left Atletico Mineiro in Brazil and is now named as the new coach of the Ligue 1 side. It had been reported for several weeks but the club made the announcement on Friday. Sampaoli has signed a two and a half year deal which would keep him at the club until June 2023. His last stint in Europe was when he managed Sevilla before leaving them to manage the Argentina national team.
Speaking with the official Olympique Marseille website, here’s what he had to say:
“I have been told all my life that OM is a special place for passion. That the Vélodrome lights up when the team plays in the stadium. Marseille is a club for the people. We’re not here to hide: we’re going to play hard. When I received this proposal, I dreamed of being able to party in the city.
“In the world, there are places for calm and there are intense places. It is the latter that I want and I accepted without hesitation. This club has a soul and that is why we are here. We are ready.”
There are two Argentine players presently at the club. Leonardo Balerdi, the 22 year old defender is presently on loan from Borussia Dortmund. The other being Dario Benedetto, who was previously selected by Jorge Sampaoli for the Argentina national team.
Martin Demichelis took part in two World Cup tournaments for Argentina, reaching one final and da quarter final loss in the other.
Demichelis, now retired, has won multiple league titles in different countries. He was a veteran of that 2014 Argentina team which made the World Cup final and speaking in an interview with TyC Sports, Demichelis revealed some things from that tournament. Here’s what he had to say:
“The win which made me the most happy was the penalty kicks against the Netherlands. The relief from the people, that was ultimate adrenaline and happiness on a pitch.”
He also revealed that an important part in the tournament was at half time vs. Bosnia-Herzegovina where the players asked Alejandro Sabella to change his tactics:
“It was an exchange of ideas and that just enhances the coaches who know how to ask and how to listen. He himself (Alejandro Sabella) and his coaching staff, after the questions and answers, decided to make a change. And that to me seems extraordinary.”
Despite playing in the final, Demichelis was not an automatic starter at the World Cup.
“It’s true that during the World Cup I nearly knocked on Sabella’s door to ask him to pick me. I saw that the World Cup was passing me by. I was training well.
“A childhood friend wrote to me saying that Ruggeri spoke that if he was Demichelis, with the amount of titles he has and at 33 years of age, he’d have knocked down the coach’s door and asked to be selected.
“I told him that I hadn’t seen or read anything. I’d want to avoid knocking down a dinner. Dinner was over and Alejandro called Leo to tell him that he was going to make two changes. Leo came to me and told me to get ready because I was going to play. So I didn’t have to knock down any doors, ha.”
Regarding the 2014 World Cup final vs. Germany:
“I remember having played a good game. It was a very intelligent game against a team who just four days prior had scored seven goals. At no point did we ever see ourselves as superior. We had three or four clear chances.
“I have never gone back to watch it. I always said I would go back and watch it one day if my son asked me.
“Sometimes I’ll be passing by some electronic store with televisions on and they’d air some goal and I would appear in it. With Pablo Zabaleta, we played together at Manchester City and the coach was Pellegrini. He worked with us so that the central defender would go cover the full back. It’s something I had automatically. Schurrle played a low cross in and Gotze was there. The dream was over.”
In regards to the 2010 World Cup:
“In 2014, the pain of losing a final lasts forever, in 2010, we were not ready nor believed that we’d exit. We had a great team. We had Diego and Leo together.
“Seeing Diego cry in the locker room as if he was a child was very sad.”
Australia and Qatar are out of the 2021 Copa America as it looks like there will be no invited teams to the tournament.
Qatar was the first team to withdraw from the Copa America as Australia have now joined them. The second round of AFC World Cup qualifying has been postponed until June because of COVID means that both teams cannot participate in the Copa America.
The 2022 World Cup hosts announced on Tuesday that they would not be competing in the this year’s tournament which will be held in Argentina and Colombia. Australia later followed them and confirmed that they wouldn’t be participating.
Argentina, draw in Group A, would have had Australia in their group along with Bolivia, Uruguay, Chile and Paraguay.
Fabrizio Angileri could be called-up to the Argentina national team for next month’s World Cup qualifiers.
Angileri is rumored to be one of the surprise players to make the Argentina team in March. Argentina play Uruguay and Brazil in two World Cup qualifying matches next month and with injuries to Nicolas Gonzalez, Marcos Acuña, Lucas Ocampos and Angel Di Maria, Scaloni is looking at possible replacements.
Per a report by TyC Sports, Argentina national team manager Lionel Scaloni is looking at the River Plate left back to incorporate into the team. According to the report, Angileri could be used as a left back or even in a more advanced forward position. Still only 26 years old, he has yet to represent the Argentina national team.
The player briefly commented on his possible call-up. Speaking in an interview with TNT Sports, here’s what he had to say about the rumors of him being called up to the squad:
“No one from the Argentina national team has communicated with me but it would be a dream to go.”
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