For just the second time since his 2009 departure to Real Madrid, former Manchester United talisman Cristiano Ronaldo will turn out at Old Trafford on Tuesday evening. Fitness permitting, the 29-year-old, who is still revered by the United faithful, will captain a Portugal side that will face World Cup finalists Argentina in a friendly encounter. Ronaldo proved his worth to the Seleccao on Friday evening when he scored the only goal of the game against Armenia to give his side a critical three points in Euro 2016 qualifying. Yet, while Ronaldo is known to yearn for the spotlight, he will have to share it on Tuesday evening with a certain Lionel Messi. Indeed, it will be the first time that the pair have come face to face since Ronaldo was forced to deny claims in Spanish journalist Guillem Balague's book that he has a derogatory nickname for the Barcelona star when inside the walls of the Madrid dressing room. When these two sides last met in 2011, both players found the net, but it was Messi's goal that ended up being the most crucial as he fired in a stoppage-time penalty to seal a 2-1 win for the Argentines. It secured a fifth victory for the South American nation over their European counterparts, who have won this fixture on just one previous occasion - back in 1972 when the late Eusebio was among the goalscorers. As well as the battle between Ronaldo and Messi, plenty of other talent is expected to be on show in both lineups, with the likes of Angel di Maria, Sergio Aguero, Carlos Tevez, Joao Moutinho and Nani all tipped to feature at some point. Portugal: Form in friendlies: LWDWWL Form in all competitions: DWLLWW Possible starting lineup: Patricio; Bosingwa, Carvalho, Pepe, Guerreiro; Tiago, Danny, Moutinho, Nani; Ronaldo, Eder Argentina: Form in friendlies: WWWLWW Form in all competitions: DLWLWW Possible starting lineup: Caballero; Zabaleta, Otamendi, Demichelis, Ansaldi; Mascherano, Perez; Di Maria, Messi, Aguero; Tevez https://www.sportsmole.co.uk/football/argentina/preview/preview-portugal-vs-argentina_188560.html
Argentina team in training: ROMERO; RONCAGLIA, DEMICHELIS, OTAMENDI, ANSALDI; PEREYRA, MASCHERANO, PASTORE; DI MARIA, HIGUAIN and MESSI. So in tatas plans only one natural DM and playing with high back line...? am i missing something here..?
Pereyra will play as a CM supporting Mascherano and the offense as well. Remember Pereyra is very fast which benefits the midfield but Tata will do whatever to keep that 3rd midfielder as a creative option so if he doesnt find a CM with both good D and Offense then he will opt for a playmaker.
Half of the defensive line up is the same as the side that got thrashed in 2010 QF. Now it should be interesting to see the team play with only 1 real forward. Messi will lurking deep in midfield as usual (right wing). Pereyra had impressed in last few games he';s featured, Masche should be benifit from his presence in midfield. Banega failed to impress against Croatia so Pastore definetely deserve to start this time. Portugal might not have the best defence and midfield, but they have better attack than the last 3 teams we played recently. If CR is in the same situation as Neymar few weeks ago, he would have scored at least one or two goals.
If u judge based on performance, Otamendi has been the best Argentine CB in Europe this season. Besides he was only 20 and playing out of position in 2010 but thats not way of judging a player and Valencia are where they are in La Liga because of his performances
Yea but still wont cover Demichellis lack of speed. Demichellis might won header but he cant handle counter attack most of the time.
While I like that Tata is going for such an attacking line-up, I still shudder back to that 2010 QF where we played one only defensive mid. I know a lot of things have changed since then, but I am not even sure how everyone is fitting in at this point. The reason is because Pereyra has a natural tendency to be more attacking than defending, while Pastore is also more of an attacking midfielder than Banega. It seems to me that unless Pereyra is specifically told to stay back and hold the fort with Mascherano, this is too attacking a line-up. Maybe Tata is trying to convert Pereyra into a more defensive mid? Because Pastore is horrible at tracking back. On the other hand, if everything clicks, this attacking line-up is wow. Messi probably clicks better with Higuain than any other of his colleagues, and Messi has to be sacrificed on the right wing because Argentina has too much attacking talent to waste. Second, Di Maria really needs to re-discover his role in the team, because he's doing the headless chicken act the past few games. Finally, why, oh why, can we not get past Di Michelis and look to the future? This is a friendly game, so why not try to forge a partnership that we'll be playing in the next few years. Because Copa is not going to be the time to experiment. This Copa will be one of the toughest to date, I believe.
Yea, you got a strong Chile and Colombia team this time in addition to usual favs Brazil and Uruguay. Even Mexico can pose problem. We shall see how this line up fare against formidable European side. I dont think we can expect a more defensive team like Sabella;s team , Tata has his own philosophy and we all know he's more like Bielsa.
Another piece of puzzle is , Dimarias position. We all know , when he played under mourinjo and before sabella he was notorious of inconsistency , he had the habbit of loosing the ball at crucial places because of over dribbling. Bu thanks to sabella and Ancelloti , they brought the best out of him , they both played in LCM [left center midfielder] . there he tracked well , recovered well and made excellent through balls. But under tata now again he moved to Attacking winger role and even with manu he played in that role for 1-2 matches and he was terrible. I think we have to place him in the same position where he played under sabella.
I wonder what channel in the UK it will be shown on and lets hope for the same result as 2011 when we last played
Problem is if he plays LCM with Messi on the right wing he needs to click with his passes but hes not that type of a player which is why Tata is trying to find a pass-first LCM who can make those little passes with Messi. I still think Cartabia is the perfect fit there as hes known for his passing and pressing game and defends better than both Pastore and Banega.
Have no problem with Otamendi being one of our CB's (either starting or first substitute), but we have to cement a partnership. For me it's Fazio-Garay. But wouldn't mind seeing Fazio-Otamendi if Garay is not available. Have no problem with Demichelis going to Chile as an emergency sub but he doesn't need any matches. We know him and he is a veteran. Like Roncaglia's inclusion and would like to see Ansaldi again. But looks like we have 2 attacking fullbacks again. Midfield looks bad. Both Perreyra and Pastore dribble far too much to be playing alongside each other. This is the same midfield (when Lamela was subbed for Pastore) that was a sieve when we played Brazil. Gave up a million counterattacks. Playing another team with fast wingers. We weren't even good offensively when Pastore came on. ADM better not try to occupy the center forward position like he did in the last match. Higuain should knock him out if he starts drifting into his space.
Di Maria had a free role when we beat Germany after the WC, but when Messi's there, having 2 players doing similar thing , you'll end up seeing a headless chicken running all over the place. Di Maria should go back to his role under Sabella . Bati at 45 still shoot harder and more accurate than Pipita
Yes, two players with the so called free role is crazy. With messi its understandable to drift to center forward. Adm is crazy doing that. That is not his game at all. He wasn't doing the headless chicken act (which was bs anyway. Adm has been our 3rd best player since the Olympics). He was standing around looking for glory. Adm will not go back to sabe
If you watch Angelito during WC 2010 and CA 2011, he did look like a headless chicken in NT. Maybe not in RM but he hardly look effective for Argentina until Sabella took over.
Ya , thats the point. -----------------masch----------- ------Biglia--------------Dimaria--- --------------pastore----------------- ----Messi---------------Higuain----- This formation may help him to play more centrally and it will restrict his free role.
I concur ----- Di Maria looked like a headless chicken throughout most of his Argentina career, until Sabella took over. As far as the Batigol clip is concerned, that shot is also while having no ligament left in his ankles. Man, things did not align right ---- Bati needed Messi, and Messi needs Bati. What we got was that Bati had Ortega, and Messi has Higuain.
I like that formation Jimmi......I believe we need to have at least two defensive minded mids.......especially against fast teams. Otherwise, we risk too many counterattacks against us, like against Brazil last game.
Adm was always great for Argentina. His mistakes were unimportant since he lost the ball in the attacking third. His pressure was always there and so was his creation. He was made more effective by sabella only cause we counterattacked. His game didn't change. Players rarely change after 23 years old. In the wc 2010 he was told to play too wide too compensate for our bottleneck from playing 2 similar players. That's why he wasn't as effective there. Its only since he joined utd that he's been playing bad. Tata's sys doesn't help either.
Please beat Portugal! Line up: G 21Nahuel Guzmán D 3Cristian Ansaldi D 6Nicolás Otamendi D 13Facundo Roncaglia D 15Martín Demichelis M 5Lucas Biglia M 7Ángel Di María M 14Javier Mascherano F 9Gonzalo Higuaín F 10Lionel Messi F 22Javier Pastore SUBSTITUTES POSNoName G1Sergio Romero G12Wilfredo Caballero D2Santiago Vergini D4Pablo Zabaleta D17Federico Fazio D24Jonathan Silva M8Enzo Pérez M16Roberto Pereyra M19Ever Banega M20Nicolas Gaitán F11Sergio Agüero F18Erik Lamela F23Carlos Tevez
Were very spaced out to the point where passing becomes even more difficult. Pastore looked good though but Messi cant seem to buy a pass. Fideo looks lost again but i like the DM/CM combo in midfield