Five Premier League stars join Lionel Messi in Argentina’s 26-man World Cup squad
Argentina boss Lionel Scaloni has named his official squad for the World Cup in Qatar.
Argentina have named their official 26-man squad for Qatar as they seek to fulfil Lionel Messi’s World Cup dream before his retirement. The 35-year-old veteran has already confirmed this will be his last ever tournament as he looks to sign off in style after falling at the final hurdle in 2014 against Germany in Brazil.
Argentina head to the Middle East off the back of their 2021 Copa America success as Messi bids to complete the full set at international level.
Lionel Scaloni’s squad is stacked with talent – including a blockbuster frontline that is packed with a whole host of big names and different attributes.
Messi is joined by Angel Di Maria, Lautaro Martinez, Manchester City’s Julian Alvarez, Nicolas Gonzalez of Fiorentina, Joaquin Correa and the injured Paulo Dybala.
There had been doubts as to whether the Roma man would make the cut after he picked up a thigh problem while scoring a penalty in a freak incident.
Unfortunately for Manchester United, there was no room for new kid on the block Alejandro Garnacho, who has been exceptional in recent weeks after forcing his way into Erik ten Hag’s first team.
The squad was not short of Premier League talent though with United’s Lautaro Martinez, Tottenham’s Cristian Romero, Emiliano Martinez of Aston Villa and Brighton’s Alexis Mac Allister joining City frontman Alvarez.
Argentina’s midfield also reads impressively given it contains Rodrigo De Paul, Leandro Paredes, Alejandro Gomez, Enzo Fernandez and Exequiel Palacios.
Former Man City defender Nicolas Otamendi and ex-Spurs man Juan Foyth are also named in Scaloni’s squad.
The reigning Copa America champions plan to get one final warm-up game in on Wednesday when they take on United Arab Emirates in the Middle East.
Then they face Saudi Arabia on November 22 in their Group C opener as they bid to get off to a winning start.
Tough tests against Mexico (November 26) and Poland (November 30) then await the South American nation, who as always, are regarded as one of the favourites.
Argentina boss Scaloni has asked clubs not to play any of their stars that are not fully fit this weekend.He has already lost Villarreal’s Tottenham loanee Giovani Lo Celso due to a hamstring injury in recent weeks while Spurs’ Romero is still yet to fully recover from injury.
“We are talking to the clubs so that players who are not at 100 per cent do not play their match,” said Scaloni.
“We have been working to see if they can release them [the players], but it’s difficult.
“There will be some players who, as a precaution, will not play the last few games, but we know that they are fine and that it is a decision thinking more about what’s coming than anything else.”
