“You easily get drawn on narratives” - Danny Murphy says only Lionel Messi and one more Argentina star would get into England starting XI
Former England international Danny Murphy has told talkSPORT that only Lionel Messi and Cristian Romero can get into the Three Lions starting XI out of Argentina's squad.
England got off to a perfect start at the 2022 FIFA World Cup with a thrilling 6-2 destruction of Iran on Monday, 21 November.
The likes of Bukayo Saka, Jude Bellingham, and Raheem Sterling all shone and scored in the win.
Meanwhile, Argentina started their FIFA World Cup campaign disappointingly, suffering what many call the biggest shock in the tournament's history.
Lionel Messi's side were beaten 2-1 by Saudi Arabia despite the Paris Saint-Germain attacker putting the South Americans in front from the penalty spot.
La Albiceleste have been touted as one of the favorites to win the tournament, but they came undone against a Saudi Arabian side that are ranked 51st in the world rankings.
Murphy believes only Lionel Messi and perhaps Tottenham Hotspur defender Christian Romero get into England's starting XI.
After studying the team that were defeated by Saudi Arabia, he said:
"I was looking at the Argentina team and sometimes you know, in easy games you get drawn on the narrative of the press, they're unbeaten in 35, they've got Messi, they must be one of the favorites."
He continued,
"When I actually looked at the game and we were going through the players. How many players get in our team? Two? No more than three. You'd fit Messi in obviously, maybe Romero would get in at center half when he's at it."
One last chance for Messi 💙 https://t.co/KNAFFGzFgj
Lionel Messi has been in scintillating form for Paris Saint-Germain this season.
The Argentina captain scored 12 goals and provided 14 assists in 19 appearances.
Meanwhile, Romero has made 13 appearances for Spurs, helping the side keep four clean sheets.
Robert Lewandowski believes Lionel Messi's Argentina are one of the favorites to win the FIFA World Cup
Next up for Argentina is a clash with Mexico on Saturday, 26 November, and they will be eager to get back to winning ways.
Looking beyond that game, they face Poland, who are captained by Barcelona frontman Robert Lewandowski.
The former Bayern Munich striker missed a penalty in Poland's FIFA World Cup 0-0 opening draw with Mexico.
Ochoa denying Robert Lewandowski his first FIFA World Cup goal 🤯😱 https://t.co/d56CEdqqEo
He was speaking ahead of the tournament in Qatar when he claimed that Scaloni's men are one of the favorites.
Lewandowski said (via World Soccer):
"Yeah, I think Argentina with Messi are one of the favourites to win the World Cup. They haven’t lost in 30+ games; they play well and you can see they are a really good team. They have a plan, which they are following as a group.