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Mauricio Pochettino’s first comments on Lionel Messi’s arrival to PSG: “I see him happy”

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Paris Saint-Germain coach Mauricio Pochettino spoke in a press conference this Friday and commented on Lionel Messi’s arrival in the club.

This is what he had to say about Messi’s arrival:

“We know what Leo represents and what he is as a football player. It is a privilege that he is here.

“I see Messi happy, content and with incredible energy. I am also Argentine, from Newell’s… one admires these players but that aside; we are going to work responsibly to hopefully achieve the goals of the club.”

Mauricio Pochettino also commented on when Messi could potentially make his PSG debut:

“It is his second training session after a month. The priority is that he is well, feels good, and when he is in the best condition, he can debut.

“I want to have the best players like any coach. Everyone knows that Messi is the best or one of the best in the world.”

Although almost the entirety of the press conference revolved around Messi, Pochettino was also asked about Mauro Icardi’s continuation at the Parisian club. Rumors are circulating about a possible departure for the Argentine striker. This was the PSG coach’s response:

“Mauro is part of the team. There is no reason to think that he will not continue here in the future.”

Paris Saint-Germain play this Saturday against RC Strasbourg at The Parc des Princes stadium, for Matchday 2 of Ligue 1. It is confirmed that Lionel Messi will not play since he just had a couple of training sessions in PSG, and his last match was the Copa America final vs. Brazil, more than a month ago.

Per reports from the French media, Mauro Icardi, who scored the winning goal in PSG’s last match vs. Troyes, would be the only Argentine in the starting eleven.

Lautaro Martinez suffers injury with Inter, to be evaluated

Roy Nemer
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Lautaro Martinez has reportedly suffered an injury and could miss the first two league matches.

Serie A begins next week and Martinez is already a doubt for the second match. According to a report by Gianluca Di Marzio, Lautaro has a slight muscle strain and he will be evaluated for Inter’s second league match.

The second match day would be on August 27 when Inter play Verona.

Argentina play three World Cup qualifying matches in September, all three coming early in the month.

Argentina La Liga preview: Sevilla, no Lionel Messi, Rodrigo De Paul at Atletico

Roy Nemer
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Well over 20 Argentine players will be taking part in La Liga this season as it’s the first one in over a decade that won’t have Lionel Messi.

At the moment, Elche and Sevilla have the most Argentine representatives in their squads with four each but Sevilla could make it five before the start of the season. Beginning with current league champions, Diego Simeone’s Atletico Madrid have two Argentina Copa America champions in the squad.

Rodrigo De Paul signed from Udinese as he will play alongside Angel Correa. De Paul had a stellar Copa America, particularly in the final while Correa scored some important goals for Atletico in their league triumph last season.

Nehuen Perez is the third Argentine but it remains to be seen if he will be playing. The 21 year old spent last season on loan at Granada.

FC Barcelona have been in the news for the past several weeks if not months due to their financial and transfer trouble. On the pitch, they will not be able to rely on their greatest ever player Lionel Messi as he has joined PSG.

The club do still have an Argentine as they signed Sergio Aguero. The situation with Aguero is that he is injured and is expected back in October. In addition, he is still not registered and it looks as if Barcelona will wait before registering him.

Cadiz have Argentina Olympic goalkeeper Jeremias Ledesma. The 28 year old had a solid showing at the Olympics, despite the team being eliminated after only just three games. The 30 year old veteran defender Marcos Mauro is the other Argentine on the team.

Franco Cervi will be playing in his first season in La Liga with Celta as the 27 year old joined from Benfica. They have two other Argentine’s on the team as Augusto Solari will be starting his first full season at the club while journeyman Matias Dituro joins on loan.

Elche had to hang on last season as they finished just above the relegation zone to remain in the league. Pablo Piatti, already 32 years old, will be playing in his first full season with the team.

Ivan Marcone remains with the team after having played for them on loan last season while Guido Carrillo finished with three goals for them last season. Lucas Boye, who finished with eight goals last season, will look to do even better this season.

Espanyol only have one Argentine at the club and it’s Matias Vargas.

Mallorca with two Argentine players as Rodrigo Battaglia and Franco Russo will want to help keep the club in La Liga this season as they are newly promoted.

Chimy Avila will hope his injury problems are behind him. One time linked with Barcelona, Avila suffered two major injuries which kept him out for several month. At one point, he was one of the hottest strikers in the league.

Rayo with Oscar Trejo in their team.

Real Betis have Copa America champion with Argentina, Guido Rodriguez. A scorer vs. Uruguay at the Copa America, Guido took part in the final of the Copa America when Argentina were crowned champions. Linked to a few Premier League clubs, it looks like he will be staying with the club.

Sevilla currently have four but could have five Argentine players by the time they play their first league match. Marcos Acuna and Alejandro Papu Gomez both won the Copa America with Argentina.

Lucas Ocampos, who took part in Argentina’s two World Cup qualifiying matches but was dropped for the Copa America, will look regain his form and make the squad for next month’s matches. Erik Lamela joins from Tottenham as it’s his first experience in La Liga.

Gonzalo Montiel is set to join the club as he flew to Spain on Thursday. Also a Copa America winner, Montiel could be Sevilla’s start back this season.

Villarreal, current Europa League winners, with two Argentine’s on the team. Juan Foyth, who took part in last June’s World Cup qualifying matches was dropped for the Copa America. He will look for redemption while Gero Rulli remains the club’s backup goalkeeper.

Atletico Madrid: Rodrigo De Paul, Angel Correa, Nehuen Perez
FC Barcelona: Sergio Aguero
Cadiz: Jeremias Ledesma, Marcos Mauro
Celta: Augusto Solari, Matias Dituro, Franco Cervi
Elche: Guido Carrillo, Lucas Boye, Pablo Piatti, Ivan Marcone
Espanyol: Matias Vargas
Mallorca: Franco Russo, Rodrigo Battaglia
Osasuna: Chimy Avila
Rayo: Oscar Trejo
Real Betis: Guido Rodriguez
Sevilla: Lucas Ocampos, Erik Lamela, Marcos Acuña, Alejandro Papu Gomez, Gonzalo Montiel (to join)
Villarreal: Juan Foyth, Geronimo Rulli

If you missed it, here is our Argentina in the Premier League preview.

If you’re an Argentine fan and a fan of the La Liga, you will have a lot to look forward to this season.

Argentina to play at the Monumental in September’s World Cup qualifiers

Roy Nemer
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Argentina will be playing at the Monumental on September as the dates and times have been confirmed for September’s World Cup qualifying fixtures.

As we reported a few days ago, it was confirmed that Argentina would play Brazil in Sao Paulo on September 5 but we did not know the dates for the other two matches. That has since changed as we now know the full dates for September’s games.

Argentina play Venezuela away on Thursday, September 2 with kick off at 20:00h local time. The second match, against Brazil, will be on Sunday, September 5 at 16:00h local time.

The third match will be at home at the Monumental vs. Bolivia. That match will be on September 9 at 20:30h, with the federation analyzing the situation of the possibility of having fans in attendance.

This marks the first time the team will play at the Monumental since September 2017, in what was a 1-1 draw vs. Venezuela.

Lionel Scaloni’s team will also playing qualifiers in October and November.

Angel Di Maria talks about winning Copa America, Lionel Messi at PSG, Diego Maradona

Roy Nemer
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Angel Di Maria spoke to ESPN where he commented on winning the Copa America with Argentina, playing alongside Lionel Messi at PSG and Diego Maradona.

Di Maria made history last month. Scoring the winner vs. Brazil as Argentina lifted the Copa America. A long time servant of the Argentina national team, Di Maria was written off at one point. But he proved the doubters wrong.

Now back with PSG and with Lionel Messi as a team mate, Di Maria was seen smiling during training on Thursday. Speaking with ESPN, here’s what he had to say:

“I’m more than happy. Everything I dreamed about happened in one month: Winning the Copa and being able to play with Leo (Messi) in the same team. It’s what I’ve always wanted. Today was the first day of training, for me, it’s something unique.”

He was also asked about the now famous picture of himself along with Lionel Messi, Leandro Paredes, Neymar and Marco Verratti in Ibiza:

“I had explained to Leo. We’re there, it was normal. We went to meet up with him, with Paredes but Ney invited us to his place and after that Verratti joined us. We joked with him (Messi), telling him to come but he had already agreed everything with Barcelona and he told us that he had already told the kids they were staying. And after that…”

In regards to his goal in the Copa America final:

“It’s something unique, up until today, I keep watching a video of the goal and everything that happened. We had taken a lot of hits, finals losts, I had a lot of injuries… These are things that damaged us.

“But then at this Copa America I knew I was going to be a substitute, that I had to fight. I knew that. And that’s how it was. When I went to train, I felt important and that gave me strength to get better. Then I got the chance to be a starter in the final and I told Scaloni the same thing I had told Sabella prior to the World Cup final in 2014, that I was ready. Thank God everything came out as we wanted.

“The most important thing is that we took the knife out, not just for the veterans but also for the kids that are starting off with the Argentina national team. It’s a big peace of mind, beyond just putting on the shirt of the national team and knowing you have to try your best to win everything you play for.

“The sky blue and white is the max, it’s not something that can be negotiated.

“It’s what my parents taught me. My dad went from one job to another until he was doing well at the factory. It’s what happened to me. I started off at Central, then made the jump to Benfica, after that went to Real Madrid, Manchester… But the national team, always, I’ll be there until they stop calling me.”

And finally, Di Maria was asked about Diego Maradona:

“For me, he’s God, he is everything. He backed me when everyone was killing me. At the World Cup, he saw me sitting in bed and started talking to me. He transmitted everything, he was unique, he gave me everything. I only remember nice things.”

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