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Lionel MESSI stars in El Clasico for Barcelona against Real Madrid

Lionel MESSI scored a historic brace for FC Barcelona, Mauro ICARDI scored a hattrick for Inter and Sergio AGUERO scored the only goal for Manchester City in their matches.

Lionel MESSI scored Barcelona career goals number 499 and 500 in Barcelona’s 3-2 El Clasico win against Real Madrid. The Santiago Bernabeu was left stunned after Lionel MESSI’s game winning goal in the 92nd minute. MESSI’s goal was his 22nd in El Clasico, which makes him the all-time leading goalscorer in the fixture, taking him ahead of the legendary Alfredo DI STEFANO. The little magician had arguably his best match of the season, scoring twice while rubbing salt in the wounds of the Madrid faithful after taking his shirt off and showing it off to the Madrid fans. The Argentina National Team captain has now scored 500 goals in merely 577 matches.

Mauro ICARDI keeps lighting it up for Inter, this time in Inter’s 5-4 loss to Fiorentina. The Inter captain scored a hattrick, the last goal coming off a header as he brings his season tally to 26 goals in all competitions with 24 of them coming in Serie A. If the rumors are true and Jorge SAMPAOLI becomes the new Argentina National Team coach, Mauro ICARDI would be called-up to the Argentina National Team as early as June when they play Brazil and Singapore.

Sergio AGUERO also found the back of the net, scoring in Manchester City’s 2-1 loss to Arsenal in the FA Cup. It was goal number 166 for AGUERO in a Manchester City shirt, making him the club’s joint second all-time top scorer. After being benched earlier in the year and rumors circulating about his exit from the club, AGUERO has come back very strong for City, now scoring 12 goals in his last 12 appearances for the club.

Lionel MESSI’s goals:

Mauro ICARDI’s goals:

Sergio AGUERO’s goal:

Argentina U20 list of 23 players for U20 World Cup

The preliminary Argentina U20 list of 23 players for the World Cup has been announced.

Lautaro MARTINEZ, Ezequiel BARCO and Exequiel PALACIOS are all part of the preliminary list of 23 players called-up by Argentina U20 coach Claudio UBEDA for the World Cup. The 23 players will begin training on Monday in preperation for the U20 World Cup. The list of players for the tournament, which will take place from May 20 until June 11, will be cut down from 23 players to a final list of 21 for the World Cup.

There had been talk that MARTINEZ, BARCO and PALACIOS would not be going to the U20 World Cup after their clubs would not release them for the matches in South Korea. Here are the 23 players:

Argentina U20 list:

Santiago ASCACIBAR, Estudiantes de la Plata
Juan FOYTH, Estudiantes de la Plata
Lucas RODRIGUEZ, Estudiantes de la Plata
Exequiel PALACIOS, River Plate
Gonzalo MONTIEL, River Plate
Franco PETROLI, River Plate
Ignacio MENDEZ, Argentinos Juniors
Leonel MOSEVICH, Argentinos Juniors
Ezequiel BARCO, Independiente
Gaston TOGNI, Independiente
Manuel ROFFO, Boca Juniors
Marcelo TORRES, Boca Juniors
Tomas BELMONTE, Lanus
Lisandro MARTINEZ, Newell’s Old Boys
Milton VALENZUELA, Newell’s Old Boys
Nazareno COLOMBO FERNANDEZ, Platense
Marcelo MINO, Rosario Central
Marcos SENSEI, San Lorenzo
Tomas CONECHNY, San Lorenzo
Brian MANSILLA, Racing Club
Lautaro MARTINEZ, Racing Club
Matias ZARACHO, Racing Club
Ezequiel NAVARRO MONTOYA, Rayo Vallecano

Marcos ROJO suffers season ending injury

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Marcos ROJO has suffered a season ending injury.

The Manchester United defender will miss the rest of the season for his club after suffering a ruptured cruciate ligament in his left knee. ROJO had to be stretchered off in Manchester United’s 2-1 win in the Europa League against Anderlecht. Early reports have ROJO out injured until September.

Should ROJO be out until September, it would mean he would miss several matches for Argentina. In June, the team will play two matches against Brazil and Singapore ahead of their two World Cup Qualifying matches in August and September, the first coming against Uruguay and the second against Venezuela.

Jorge SAMPAOLI to be presented as Argentina coach

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Jorge SAMPAOLI will finally get his dream of coaching Argentina.

The Sevilla coach will be leaving his job in Spain to coach the Argentina National Team, reports AS. The report states that SAMPAOLI will be announced as coach of the Argentina National Team on May 22, following the end of the la liga season. SAMPAOLI has been in the spotlight and been the main man in the media to replace former coach Edgardo BAUZA but has watched his words regarding possibly joining the National Team. However, SAMPAOLI has let it slip stating the following:

Jorge SAMPAOLI:

“I know there is interest and they say I am the chosen one, but they will have to wait for the right time to make sure nobody is harmed. To do it now would harm Sevilla. If a player can go because of a clause, why can’t a manager do it too?”

It’s also being rumored thatt SAMPAOLI has already started working on drafting a list of names for his Argentina team and that AFA president Claudio TAPIA has informed SAMPAOLI that he would be able to work in peace while still coaching Sevilla. The situation for SAMPAOLI is that Sevilla’s seasons ends on May 22 and Argentina play two friendly matches in June. The first against Brazil on June 9 and the second on June 13 against Singapore.

An additional piece which is being rumored in the media is that Mauro ICARDI would finally get a call to the Argentina National Team. Especially should Paulo DYBALA and Gonzalo HIGUAIN take part in the Champions League final for Juventus in June.

Argentina to play Brazil and Singapore in June

Argentina will play two matches in June.

The Argentina National Team will play two friendly matches in June. It has been confirmed, the two matches will be against Brazil and Singapore.

The team will play Brazil on June 9 in Australia and will travel to Singapore where they will play Singapore on June 13, four days later.

There are a few factors which we don’t know about concerning Argentina. The most glaring being who will be coaching the team since Edgardo BAUZA is no longer at the helm. If it will be Jorge SAMPAOLI or someone else, we still don’t know.

The other is that it remains to be seen if Lionel MESSI will be available for both matches as he is currently serving a four match suspension. MESSI will be appearing in front of FIFA officials on May 4 where his four match ban is expected to be reduced down to two matches. But even at that, it might still be possible that the Argentina captain plays the two friendly matches against Brazil and Singapore but misses the World Cup qualifying match against Uruguay due to the ban.