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Argentina to be a seeded team at the 2020 Olympics

Roy Nemer
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Argentina will be one of four seeded teams at the 2020 Olympic games.

Fernando Batista’s team will avoid two of the top teams as well as the hosts in the group stages. The two time Olympic champions will be one of four seeded teams as they, along with Brazil, South Korea and hosts Japan are the top teams who will be in pot number one.

Pot number two will have Germany, Mexico, Honduras and Spain with pot 3 having Egypt, New Zealand, Ivory Coast and South Africa. The final pot has Australia, Saudi Arabia, France and Romania.

The two time champions will find out what group they will be in when the draw takes place on April 21 in Zurich. Argentina played two friendly matches at the end of last month vs. hosts Japan. They won the first one 1-0 with Adolfo Gaich scoring the winner but lost the second 3-0 in a less than stellar performance.

Paulo Dybala scores winner for Juventus in 2-1 win vs. Napoli

Roy Nemer
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28

Paulo Dybala scored the winner for Juventus in their 2-1 victory vs. Napoli.

Dybala was a substitute for Juventus and ended up making his first appearance for the club in nearly three months, having last played only 43 minutes vs. Sassuolo back on January 10. Brought on in the second half for Alvaro Morata, the Argentine would have an immediate impact as he would score just four minutes after being substituted into the match.

He would receive the ball near the edge of the penalty area and his left footed strike would beat the goalkeeper to give Juventus the 2-0 lead. That goal was his third of the league season to go with his two assists.

Already 27 years of age, Dybala’s future at the club has been a doubt. With contract negotiations apparently stalling, he broke COVID-19 protocols to attend a party which only fueled exit rumors.

Lautaro Martinez scores winner for Inter in 2-1 win vs. Sassuolo

Roy Nemer
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Lautaro Martinez scored the winner for Inter in their 2-1 win vs. Sassuolo.

Martinez gave Inter the three points to keep them top of the league in Serie A. With Inter leading 1-0, Lukaku would play a ball in to the Argentine who would drive towards goal and his left footed effort would leave the goalkeeper standing still as the ball rolled into the back of the net. That win would extend Inter’s lead as they move 11 points clear of second place AC Milan.

The 23 year old is now on 14 goals and 8 assists in the league this season and has two goals in his last three league matches.

Inter coach Antonio Conte had great things to say about Lautaro following the match. Speaking with Sky Sport Italia, here’s what he had to say (translation courtesy of SempreInter):

“Lautaro has improved like all the players. I praised him in yesterday’s pre-match press conference because he’s improving hugely in every aspect, in terms of controlling the ball, running in behind and his passing.

“Lautaro looked for Lukaku a lot today, they’re two players who are doing very well and I’d like to spend a word for Sanchez’s performance as well.”

Argentine Champions League Quarter Finals preview: Angel Di Maria, Sergio Aguero

Roy Nemer
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31

The quarter finals of the Champions League begins on Tuesday as we have six Argentine players who are left in the tournament.

We have Sergio Aguero, Angel Di Maria, Leandro Paredes, Mauro Icardi, Agustin Marchesin and Willy Caballero as the only Argentine players left in the tournament with PSG manager Mauricio Pochettino as the only Argentine coach left. Of the six remaining, only one has managed to win the Champions League and that was Angel Di Maria back in 2014 when he won it with Real Madrid prior to the World Cup.

Two matches on Tuesday and two on Wednesday with only one Argentine representative on the first day and the other five on Wednesday. Real Madrid host Liverpool in a repeat of the final from a few years ago, neither team has any Argentine players at the club.

Manchester City along with Sergio Aguero host Borussia Dortmund in the second match on Tuesday. This is Aguero’s swan song season and he would like to cap it off by winning the big one but they’ll first have to go through Dortmund and make it to the semi finals.

A repeat of last season’s final will take place on Wednesday where Bayern Munich host PSG in the first leg. Angel Di Maria, Leandro Paredes and Mauro Icardi will be out for revenge in hopes of knocking out the reigning champions and edging closer to a place in the final once more.

Wednesday will also bring a clash of two Argentine goalkeepers. Agustin Marchesin will start for Porto after they knocked out Juventus in the last round while fellow Argentine Willy Caballero will be watching from the stands when Porto host Chelsea in the other match that day. Here are the matches:

Tuesday:
Real Madrid vs. Liverpool
Manchester City (Sergio Aguero) vs. Borussia Dortmund

Wednesday:
Bayern Munich vs. PSG (Angel Di Maria, Leandro Paredes and Mauro Icardi)
FC Porto (Agustin Marchesin) vs. Chelsea (Willy Caballero)

Leonardo Balerdi scores for Marseille in 2-0 win vs. Dijon

Roy Nemer
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3

Leonardo Balerdi scored for Marseille in their 2-0 win vs. Dijon.

Balerdi started in a three man back line for Jorge Sampaoli’s men and scored his second goal of the season to give Marseille the 1-0 lead. Sampaoli’s team would go on to score a second as they have now won three of their last four matches with Sampaoli in charge.

The 22 year old Argentine has started the last five matches for Marseille, with three wins, two of them clean sheets and two losses. He has played 90 minutes in every one of those games.

Marseille are presently in sixth spot in the league, three points ahead of both Montpellier and Rennes, one point behind Lens.

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