BUENOS AIRES: Barcelona star Lionel Messi was left out of the firstpost-World Cup Argentina squad announced on Friday ahead of four upcomingfriendlies.
The move was widely expected following media reports earlier in the weekclaiming the five-time Ballon d’Or winner had asked to be excused from thecountry’s four remaining friendlies in 2018.
Also absent from interim coach Lionel Scaloni’s squad are Manchester City’sSergio Aguero, Angel Di Maria of Paris Saint-Germain and new AC Milan loansigning Gonzalo Higuain.
Argentina will play Guatemala and Colombia next month in the United States,with two more friendlies scheduled before the end of the year.
Argentina great Diego Maradona had called on the national team to giveMessi a break in an interview published in sport daily Ole on Friday.
“I would give him space to breathe. I would tell him ‘play in Europe andstop travelling so you don’t get tired any more’. He shouldn’t play infriendlies just because the national team earns more with him,” the57-year-old World Cup winner said.
“Messi shouldn’t be moving around for money.”
The Guatemala match in Los Angeles will be Argentina’s first since theywere knocked out of the World Cup by eventual winners France in a thrilling4-3 last-16 classic.
Jorge Sampaoli was sacked following that showing, with Maradona offering tocoach the national side for free.
He was the coach during Argentina’s 2010 World Cup campaign in which theywere thumped 4-0 by Germany in the quarter-finals.
Maradona said the side retained “little prestige because we did badly atthe World Cup. We had no teamwork, we didn’t use the ball.
“When they told me Sampaoli had 14 assistants, I asked myself why he went,why didn’t he stay at home drinking mate?”
Manchester United’s second-choice goalkeeper Sergio Romero and InterMilan’s Mauro Icardi have earnt recalls to the squad after missing out onthe global showpiece in Russia, while Paulo Dybala of Juventus is alsoincluded.
In form domestic-based pair Cristian Pavon of Boca Juniors and MatiasVargas of Velez Sarsfield were also included, alongside young Inter Milanforward Lautaro Martinez.
Squad:
Goalkeepers: Franco Armani (River Plate), Geronimo Rulli (Real Sociedad,ESP), Sergio Romero (Manchester United, ENG).
Defenders: Gabriel Mercado (Sevilla, ESP), Fabricio Bustos (Independiente,German Pezzella (Fiorentina, ITA), Alan Franco (Independiente), RamiroFunes Mori (Villarreal, ESP), Walter Kannemann (Gremio, BRA), NicolasTagliafico (Ajax, NED), Marcos Acuna (Sporting Lisbon, POR), Eduardo Salvio(Benfica, POR), Leonel Di Placido (Lanus).
Midfielders: Santiago Ascacibar (Stuttgart, GER), Leandro Paredes (Zenit,RUS), Rodrigo Battaglia (Sporting Lisbon, POR), Maximiliano Meza(Independiente), Giovani Lo Celso (PSG, FRA), Gonzalo Martinez (RiverPlate), Franco Cervi (Benfica, POR), Franco Vazquez (Sevilla, ESP), MatiasVargas (Velez), Exequiel Palacios (River Plate).
Forwards: Cristian Pavon (Boca Juniors), Lautaro Martinez (Inter Milan,ITA), Paulo Dybala (Juventus, ITA), Mauro Icardi (Inter Milan, ITA),Giovanni Simeone (Fiorentina, ITA), Angel Correa (Atletico Madrid, EPA). -APP/AFP