{"id":632595,"date":"2025-12-14T20:46:34","date_gmt":"2025-12-14T20:46:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/632595\/"},"modified":"2025-12-14T20:46:34","modified_gmt":"2025-12-14T20:46:34","slug":"julian-alvarez-snubs-lamine-yamal-over-two-spain-stars-to-play-for-argentina-ahead-of-the-finalissima","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/632595\/","title":{"rendered":"Juli\u00e1n \u00c1lvarez snubs Lamine Yamal over two Spain stars to play for Argentina ahead of the Finalissima"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lamine Yamal<\/strong><\/a> is expected to be one of the headliners in the upcoming Finalissima<\/strong> between Spain<\/strong> and Argentina<\/strong> next March, a matchup that would see him share the field with Lionel Messi for the first time. However, despite finishing as the runner-up in the 2025 Ballon d\u2019Or, the Barcelona star was overlooked by <\/strong>Juli\u00e1n \u00c1lvarez<\/strong><\/a>, who instead selected two other Spain internationals to represent Argentina<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u00c1lvarez has firmly established himself as one of the world\u2019s top strikers and remains a key figure for the Argentina<\/strong><\/a> side that lifted the World Cup. Now starring for Atl\u00e9tico Madrid in La Liga, the forward has already faced Yamal multiple times domestically<\/strong>, but the teenager still does not appear to be his preferred fit for a hypothetical Albiceleste lineup.<\/p>\n

During a rapid-fire interview with Marca, and with the Finalissima<\/strong><\/a> approaching, \u00c1lvarez was asked which Spain player he would choose to play for Argentina. \u201cRodri<\/strong>,\u201d the striker replied, naming his former Manchester City teammate with whom he won the UEFA Champions League.<\/p>\n

\u00c1lvarez was then given the opportunity to make a second selection, and once again Yamal was left out. \u201cPedri,\u201d he answered immediately<\/strong>, opting for another FC Barcelona standout rather than the highly touted 18-year-old winger.<\/p>\n

\"\" Rodri (L) and Pedri of Spain national team. <\/p>\n

With Spain<\/strong><\/a> already securing qualification for the World Cup by finishing atop their group, the Finalissima no longer faces another postponement and is expected to go ahead as planned. While no official announcement has been made, the match is projected for Friday, March 27, at Lusail Stadium in Doha<\/strong>, a stage where Yamal could look to prove \u00c1lvarez wrong against one of the world\u2019s elite national teams.<\/p>\n

Yamal leads head-to-head against \u00c1lvarez <\/p>\n

Juli\u00e1n \u00c1lvarez\u2019s move to Spain coincided with Yamal\u2019s breakout 2024\u201325 season. While \u00c1lvarez was still at Manchester City, the two never crossed paths at club or international level<\/strong>, but frequent clashes between Atl\u00e9tico Madrid and Barcelona have since created a growing rivalry.<\/p>\n

\u00c1lvarez has faced Yamal\u2019s Barcelona five times, recording just one win, a match in which Yamal was sidelined with an ankle injury in December 2024. In the four meetings since, Barcelona have claimed three victories along with a 4-4 draw<\/strong>. During that stretch, Yamal has registered one goal and two assists, while \u00c1lvarez has scored twice and added one assist, giving the edge to the Spanish teenager so far.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lamine Yamal is expected to be one of the headliners in the upcoming Finalissima between Spain and Argentina…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":632596,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5312],"tags":[10105,2000,299,105677,15132,15217,104],"class_list":{"0":"post-632595","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-spain","8":"tag-argentina","9":"tag-eu","10":"tag-europe","11":"tag-finalissima","12":"tag-julian-alvarez","13":"tag-lamine-yamal","14":"tag-spain"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115719882868488804","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632595","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=632595"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632595\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/632596"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=632595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=632595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=632595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}