Argentina national team coach Lionel Scaloni spoke at a press conference on Thursday about the Lionel Messi and Franco Armani.

Lionel Scaloni held a press conference on Thursday where he spoke about Lionel Messi’s fitness. Messi missed PSG’s last training session due to the flu but did train normally this week with Argentina. Here is what he had to say:

“Leo is good, he trained normally and is available to play. Leo is very comfortable in the Argentina national team. We managed to get the group to assimilate who he is and make him feel like he’s just one more in the team. We have known that for a long time. What should always have been normal began to be normal a little over a year ago.

Scaloni also spoke about Lionel Messi’s situation with PSG:

“In terms of his situation with his team, I went to go see him against Real Madrid and for me, he played well, dominated the match but it ended with them out of the Champions League in an unexpected way because he didn’t play bad but at the Bernabeu at times one thing is enough to change the match.

“At a team with big expectations, now, they ask for more. I think the situation does not effect him, every time he comes here he has shown that.”

He also spoke about Messi and playing with the Argentina national team:

“Tomorrow he has the opportunity to play in his country, with his people. Surely the last match we could play here (before the World Cup) and he can say goodbye to Argentina in the best way and hope that the future is even better.”

Regarding the match tomorrow, Emilian “Dibu” Martinez is suspended and Scaloni spoke about the goalkeeper for the match against Venezuela in the World Cup qualifier:

“Tomorrow, Franco (Armani) will be the goalkeeper.”

Lionel Messi will start for Argentina against Venezuela on Friday in the World Cup qualifiers as coach Lionel Scaloni held another training on Wednesday with five youth players training with the team.

Messi trained with Argentina on Wednesday, just as he did on Tuesday and will be starting in Friday’s World Cup qualifier. As we reported earlier, the front three is rumored to be Lionel Messi and Nicolás González with Julián Álvarez or Joaquín Correa. Lautaro Martinez is out with COVID and will miss the match.

Alexis Mac Allister trained along side Rodrigo De Paul and Leandro Paredes in training. One of Alexis Mac Allister and Exequiel Palacios are expected to start in midfield.

Argentina national team coach Lionel Scaloni selected five youth players which trained with the team. Those five were Alejandro Garnacho of Manchester United, Matías Soulé of Juventus, Julián Aude of Lanús, Tiago Geralnik of Villarreal and Franco Carboni of Inter.

Three youth players are rumored to have a chance to be on the bench. Per TyC Sports, Alejandro Garnacho, Nicolás Paz of Real Madrid and Luka Romero of Lazio could be on the bench as Scaloni will be without many of his players due to suspensions and injuries. HEre is the rumored eleven:

Franco Armani; Nahuel Molina, Germán Pezzella, Nicolás Otamendi, Nicolás Tagliafico; Rodrigo De Paul, Leandro Paredes, Alexis Mac Allister or Exequiel Palacios; Lionel Messi, Joaquín Correa or Julián Álvarez and Nicolás González.

Alejandro Garnacho of Manchester United could get some minutes in the World Cup qualifiers with the Argentina national team.

Garnacho is one of the youngsters that has been called up which could end up playing in one of the World Cup qualifiers. According to ESPN, Garnacho could play against Venezuela on Friday or on March 29 against Ecuador.

Still only 17 years old, Garnacho has played for the Manchester United youth teams and has represented Spain at youth level. His mother is Argentine and he is born in Madrid but is training with the Argentina team for the qualifiers.

Here are the youth players that have been called up by Argentina national team coach Lionel Scaloni for the two matches:

Franco Carboni (Inter)
Luka Romero (Lazio)
Valentin Carboni (Inter)
Alejandro Garnacho (Manchester United)
Nicolás Paz (Real Madrid)
Tiago Geralnik (Villarreal)
Matias Soulé (Juventus)