Argentina and Messi, with the World Cup team in Finalissima

There is no evidence. No test. Argentina prepare the Finalissima against Italy at Wembley as if it were his World Cup debut. Lionel Scaloni’s idea was to put together the perfect team, with Lionel Messi as captain and with all the usual starters.

Emiliano Martinez; Nahuel Molina, Cristian Romero, Nicolás Otamendi, Marcos Acuña; Angel Di Maria, Guido Rodriguez, Rodrigo De Paul, Giovani Lo Celso; Messi and Lautaro Martínez will play from the start this Wednesday.

If today is the start of the World Cup, Scaloni will select those players for the opening match. The only one to join that lineup is Leandro Paredes, who is with the team in Bilbao but still has more than two weeks left to recover from a muscle injury. He will enter instead of Guido Rodríguez.

The Argentine coach is involved in a concern. Just as he knows his Argentina has a lot of friction against teams in South America, he also knows he needs to measure himself against powerful rivals in Europe. That is why this match is very important in Italy even though they have not yet qualified for the World Cup.

Tomorrow, from Lezama to London

Scaloni wants to see how his players react against opponents from Europe. Although most of his players play on that continent and know what it’s about, he intends to observe collective responses. Today is the final training session at the Lezama complex and then the Copa América champion will travel to London to meet the European Championship champion.

The second sociable will be very different, with more than moderate Estonia, on Sunday definitely in Pamplona. First it will be played on the Real Sociedad field and then on the Alavés field. At this time, the Osasuna stadium will be officially confirmed as the stage. There, Scaloni will make changes and use that 90 minutes to rehearse using a few different names and continue the adjustment to the final list.