{"id":31364,"date":"2026-05-29T08:36:43","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T08:36:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/31364\/"},"modified":"2026-05-29T08:36:43","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T08:36:43","slug":"argentina-world-cup-squad-lionel-messi-to-play-in-sixth-finals-but-aston-villa-star-and-real-madrid-attacker-miss-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/31364\/","title":{"rendered":"Argentina World Cup squad: Lionel Messi to play in sixth finals but Aston Villa star and Real Madrid attacker miss out"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lionel Messi<\/a> will play in a sixth World Cup after being named in Lionel Scaloni<\/a>‘s final 26-man squad.<\/p>\n

Messi has previously stopped short of publicly announcing his World Cup plans, although Scaloni’s preliminary selection<\/a> outlined his intention to play in the tournament.<\/p>\n

Argentina<\/a> were then left with fresh concerns over Messi’s involvement when he asked to be substituted<\/a> in Inter Miami’s recent 6-4 victory over Philadelphia Union.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, subsequent tests revealed the issue to be fatigue in Messi’s left thigh rather than an injury that may affect his involvement in Argentina’s World Cup defence.<\/p>\n

The 38-year-old has now been included in the 26-man party, meaning he will join his long-time rival, Cristiano Ronaldo, in featuring in a sixth World Cup.<\/p>\n

Messi made his debut in football’s biggest tournament in 2006, before finally achieving his ultimate goal of lifting the trophy in the 2022 edition in Qatar.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u00a9 Imago \/ Camilla Stolen<\/p>\n

Five Premier League players make Argentina’s World Cup squad<\/p>\n

In addition to Messi, Scaloni has also called up five players who play their club football in the Premier League, including the midfield duo of Alexis Mac Allister and Enzo Fernandez.<\/p>\n

Manchester United’s Lisandro Martinez and Tottenham Hotspur’s Cristian Romero feature among Scaloni’s defensive options, while Aston Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez will continue in his role as Argentina’s number one goalkeeper.<\/p>\n

However, there is no place in the squad for Martinez’s Villa teammate Emiliano Buendia, who scored a stunning goal in Aston Villa’s 3-0 win<\/a> over Freiburg in last week’s Europa League final.<\/p>\n

The 29-year-old has made just two appearances for his country, but he will feel unlucky after scoring 11 goals and providing nine assists during a successful season for Unai Emery’s side.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Marcos Senesi, who is set to join Tottenham Hotspur on a free transfer<\/a>, was another player to miss out on the final, despite being an integral part of a Bournemouth side that achieved European qualification for the first time in the club’s history.\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u00a9 Imago \/ Pressinphoto<\/p>\n

Real Madrid attacker misses out on World Cup call
\n
\n <\/p>\n

Goalkeepers: Emiliano Martinez (Aston Villa), Juan Musso (Atletico Madrid), Geronimo Rulli (Marseille)<\/p>\n

Defenders: Leonardo Balerdi (Marseille), Lisandro Martinez (Manchester United), Facundo Medina (Marseille), Nahuel Molina (Atletico Madrid), Gonzalo Montiel (River Plate), Nicolas Otamendi (Benfica), Cristian Romero (Tottenham Hotspur), Nicolas Tagliafico (Lyon)<\/p>\n

Midfielders:\u00a0Valentin Barco (Strasbourg), Rodrigo de Paul (Inter Miami), Enzo Fernandez (Chelsea), Ezequiel Fernandez (Bayer Leverkusen), Giovani Lo Celso (Real Betis), Alexis Mac Allister (Liverpool), Leandro Paredes (Boca Juniors)<\/p>\n

Attackers:\u00a0Thiago Almada (Atletico Madrid), Julian Alvarez (Atletico Madrid), Nicolas Gonzalez (Atletico Madrid), Jose Manuel Lopez (Palmeiras), Lautaro Martinez (Inter), Lionel Messi (Inter Miami), Nicolas Paz (Como), Giuliano Simeone (Atletico Madrid),\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Away from the Premier League, Real Madrid attacker Franco Mastantuono was a notable absentee from Argentina’s final squad.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The 18-year-old was called up for the last international window, but his first-season struggles at Real Madrid have ultimately contributed to his omission.<\/p>\n

Mastantuono started just 11 La Liga games in the 2025-26 campaign and mustered just three goals in 35 competitive matches.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Real Madrid’s local rival Atletico Madrid are well represented with five players in Scaloni’s selection, including\u00a0Barcelona-linked Julian Alvarez<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lionel Messi will play in a sixth World Cup after being named in Lionel Scaloni‘s final 26-man squad.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":31365,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[320,322,313,315,318,82,321,319,100,316,314,324,323,317],"class_list":["post-31364","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-madrid","tag-cycling","tag-epl","tag-football","tag-formula-1","tag-golf","tag-madrid","tag-nfl","tag-olympics","tag-premier-league","tag-rugby","tag-sport","tag-sports-mole","tag-teams","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31364","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31364"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31364\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31365"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}