The Nigeria Football Federation has rejected Argentina’s move to exclude Barcelona’s Lionel Messi and other top stars from the June 1 friendly between the Super Eagles and the Albiceleste in Abuja.
Argentina coach Sergio Batista has called up 22 players ahead of the game but the list is without Messi, Real Madrid’s Angel Di Maria and Gonzalo Higuain and Inter Milan’s Diego Milito.
The NFF Technical Committee Chairman, Chris Green, said in South Africa last week that the agreement between the NFF and the Argentina Football Association was to have the top players of both sides on display in the encounter.
“I don’t believe Argentina will do that. We have an agreement that only the top players will play the match. I trust they will keep their side of the bargain,” Green said.
“We’ll feature our best players because we know the regular season will have been over in the major leagues. We don’t see Argentina having a problem with using their players during the off-season.
“This is a Grade A friendly and nothing will be left out to ensure it turns out to be a success.”
Batista named the players, mostly in the U-25 category, ahead of their two friendly matches in June. They are expected to play Poland on June 5 after playing in Nigeria.
The list include goalkeepers Oscar Ustari (Getafe) and Augustin Marchesin (Lanús). The defenders in the team are Mateo Musacchio (Villarreal), Nicolas Otamendi (Porto), Ezequiel Garay (Real Madrid), Pablo Zabaleta (Manchester City), Marcos Angeleri (Sunderland), Federico Fazio (Sevilla), Emiliano Insua (Galatasaray).
Others are Tino Costa (Valencia), Nicolas Bertolo (Zaragoza), Mario Bolatti (Internacional), Fernando Belluschi (Porto), Alejandro Cabral (Legia Varsovia), Diego Perotti (Sevilla), Mauro Formica (Blackburn) and Pablo Piatti (Almería).
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