Messi is one of the players who keep in shape after the 2022 World Cup. Photo: Reuters.
Argentina is crowned in the World Cup 2022 thanks to the transformative play and the brilliance of the stars. Besides the veterans like Messi, Di Maria or Nicolas Otamendi, many young players also “stepped into the light” after the tournament in Qatar.
Enzo Fernandez, the recipient of the World Cup’s Best Young Player award in 2022, enjoys the results when joining Chelsea with a contract worth more than 120 million pounds. But maintaining form after an explosive tournament is a problem for young players like Fernandez. The 22-year-old midfielder gradually finds it difficult to meet expectations in a Chelsea shirt.
Bright spots
At the age of 35, Messi is still one of the most effective Argentine players after the 2022 World Cup. He scored 5 goals and contributed 2 assists in the last 9 matches of PSG. No player in Ligue 1 in the 2022/23 season has as many assists as Messi (12).
In early February, coach Christophe Galtier admitted “asking the team to play for Messi”, after witnessing that M10 still had a great influence on the Paris team. “Messi needs to be exempted from doing certain tasks. Teammates need to double their efforts to cover and create space for Messi to pass the ball,” coach Galtier said.
Besides the main striker Kylian Mbappe, Messi is PSG’s number one hope in the 2022/23 season. The French team expects the creativity of the Argentine superstar to help the team turn the tide against Bayern Munich in the second leg of the Champions League round of 16 on March 9.
Di Maria, the shining player in the 2022 World Cup final, recreated an impressive performance in the Juventus shirt. In the confrontation with Nantes in the Europa League play-off on February 23, Di Maria scored a hat-trick to help “Old Lady” advance to the next round. After the 2022 World Cup, Di Maria is also one of the outstanding players of Juventus. He scored 6 goals and contributed 3 assists in 12 games.
Nicolas Otamendi and Lisandro Martinez are two central defenders in high form after the 2022 World Cup. While Otamendi played firmly to help Benfica create an 11-point gap with Porto in the Portuguese championship race, Martinez contributed greatly to the championship. Manchester United’s Carabao Cup on February 26.
The World Cup 2022 is not a very successful tournament for Lautaro Martinez personally (0 goals, 0 assists after 240 minutes of play). But since the beginning of January, no Inter Milan player has scored more goals than this striker in all competitions (8 goals in 12 games). Martinez also leads the list of Inter’s top scorers this season with 16 goals.
Lisandro Martinez helps MU quench their thirst for titles after 6 years. Photo: Reuters.
The players have difficulty
The best goalkeeper of the 2022 World Cup, Emiliano Martinez, is one of the cases where he has lost his form. Aston Villa lost 5 out of 10 matches after the tournament in Qatar ended. In which, Martinez only kept 3 clean sheets. In the confrontation with Arsenal on February 18, Martinez was criticized for leaving the goal to join the attack, creating the opportunity for Gabriel Martinelli to raise the score to 4-2 for the “Gunners”.
Of course, the fault is not entirely on Martinez when the Aston Villa defense has also made many mistakes in recent defeats. However, the Argentine goalkeeper needs to find a way to improve his individual performance.
The duo of gods Alvarez and Enzo Fernandez also struggled to find a place at Man City and Chelsea. Alvarez is said to be unhappy with the lack of playing time at the Etihad Stadium and has to be substituted for Erling Haaland. In the Premier League 2022/23, the 23-year-old striker scored 5 goals in 19 matches.
According to 90min, Alvarez is interested in Real Madrid, Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain. Man City want to keep the Argentine striker, but if it is not possible to increase the number of minutes played by Alvarez, the Etihad Stadium team may lose a potential striker.
With Fernandez, Chelsea’s £120 million signing has not shown much in the new environment. Whoscored pointed out that the 22-year-old midfielder has the most average number of passes in the top 5 European leagues (3 times/match).
On February 26, Fernandez made a direct mistake that led to Chelsea’s first goal in a 0-2 defeat to Tottenham in the 25th round of the Premier League. Former striker Michael Owen defended the Argentine midfielder, saying that “Fernandez needs more time to adapt”.
Leandro Paredes and Rodrigo De Paul were once fulcrums in the Argentine midfield thanks to their impressive fighting ability, helping Messi unleash his creativity in the front line. But when returning to the host club (Juventus and Atletico Madrid), both did not leave the same mark as in the national team.
Duy Luan | 13:31 04/03/2023
