Argentina’s Ole newspaper commented that in the absence of Messi and Di Maria, Argentina’s two forwards, Lautaro and Alvarez, will become partners. Historical records show that this partnership is not a bad thing for the Argentine team.
Argentine media pointed out: Scaloni rarely used two forwards as partners from the start; they were more often in a “one or the other” competitive relationship, one starting and the other substituting them off. Letting the two play together has only happened a mere three times in the Scaloni era. But the fact that cannot be ignored is that Argentina won all three games.
One was last year’s World Cup qualifier between Argentina and Paraguay, where Di Maria was absent due to injury, and Messi only came on as a substitute at the last minute due to injury. Lautaro and Alvarez played as partners, forming a “trident” with them was Nico Gonzalez. Argentina eventually defeated the strong opponent 1-0, with Otamendi scoring the only goal. Argentine media pointed out: the situation in that game is most similar to now.
The other two matches were a warm-up match against Ecuador before the Copa America, where Argentina won 1-0. And another friendly match against Jamaica before the Qatar World Cup, which ended in a 3-0 victory for Argentina in New Jersey. In these two games, Lautaro and Alvarez partnered with Di Maria to form a trident.
The Ole newspaper emphasized that when Lautaro and Alvarez partner up, one of them must make some sacrifices and changes, possibly with Alvarez playing more as a winger, which is not his favorite or best position, which may have some impact. However, regardless, in the Scaloni era, whenever the two partnered, Argentina achieved full wins, which can give the team more confidence.