Argentina v Chile: Lionel Messi's great challenge
Football offers revenge to Leo Messi's Argentina. In the early hours of Monday morning (02:00 CET), in the Metlife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, the Argentine national team, led by the Barça forward will meet Chile in the final of the Centenary Copa America.
It is a title that has escaped the player known as 'The Flea' on two occasions (2007 and 2015), and that he does not wish to lose again. Javier Mascherano is the other Barça starter in the team of Tata Martino, another man with a Barcelona past, having coached the Catalans in season 2013/14.
The challenge is set for Messi and Argentina. The player arrived fresh from winning the domestic double with his club, and so is a candidate to repeat as the Ballon d'Or winner. To add the Copa America crown would edge him nearer to his sixth individual title that would convert him into a legend.
Messi arrives at the final in great form. Physically he feels at his best, and he has full commitment to the cause. He understands that it is now or never, that the Argentine fans, after the disappointments of the World Cup final of 2014 (against Germany) and the Copa America final of 2015 (against Chile) can not expect anything other than to be crowned as champions.
Messi, in a way, is in debt to his country's fans. He has won everything with FC Barcelona (28 titles, including eight Ligas, four Champions Leagues and four Copas del Rey) but nothing with the senior Argentine national team. He did however win a World under-20 title in 2005 and a gold medal in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Therefore, he is yet to achieve success with the senior side, in which he has played 122 games and scored 55 goals. His goal in the semi-final against the United States took him past Gabriel Batistuta as the highest ever goalscorer for the national team. He is an expert in winning finals with Barça, and now hopes to break his duck with the blue and white striped shirt of Argentina.
Argentina has had few problems in this Copa America. They reach the final after five wins in five matches and a balance of 18 goals in favour and just three conceded. Figures that make them favourites to lift the trophy. Only injuries have slowed their progress, first with Messi himself suffering from a bone contusion, and then with Ezequiel Lavezzi, having to undergo an operation on his left elbow.
For the final, Nicolas Gaitan is also ruled out through injury while Angel di Maria is a doubt. Chile, meanwhile, reach the final with four victories and one defeat (against Argentina in the group stage), scoring 16 goals and conceding five.
They have got stronger as the tournament has progressed, and surprised everybody with their heavy 7-0 defeat of Mexico in the quarter-final. The team coached by Juan Antonio Pizzi has all its arsenal intact, with the sole absentee being Pedro Pablo Hernandez, out with an ankle sprain.
EXPECTED LINE-UPS
Argentina: Sergio Romero; Gabriel Mercado, Nicolás Otamendi, Ramiro Funes Mori, Marcos Rojo; Lucas Biglia, Javier Mascherano, Éver Banega; Lionel Messi, Gonzalo Higuaín and Erik Lamela.
Chile: Claudio Bravo; Mauricio Isla, Gary Medel, Gonzalo Jara, Jean Beausejour; Marcelo Díaz, Charles Aránguiz, Arturo Vidal; José Pedro Fuenzalida, Eduardo Vargas and Alexis Sánchez.
