World Cup-winning captain Lionel Messi is in contention to make his 175th international appearance for Argentina in Thursday's friendly against Australia at the Workers' Stadium in Beijing.
The 35-year-old, who has agreed to join Inter Miami this summer, is one of 19 players in Lionel Scaloni's 27-man squad who was also selected at the 2022 tournament in Qatar, and the legendary attacker will be hoping to add to his 102 international goals should he walk out with the armband against the Socceroos.
Manchester United defender Lisandro Martinez remains sidelined after undergoing surgery on a fractured metatarsal in April, while Juan Foyth, Papu Gomez, Angel Correa, Paulo Dybala and Lautaro Martinez are also not involved in the senior squad, the latter recently suffering defeat in the Champions League final with Inter Milan.
Julian Alvarez was on the winning side in that showpiece event with treble-winners Manchester City and has been named in Scaloni's squad, although the forward is seemingly unlikely to feature on Thursday after enjoying an open-top bus parade in Manchester on Monday – an appearance in next Monday's clash with Indonesia appears more likely.
Goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez is poised to retain the number one jersey, while 102-cap Nicolas Otamendi could partner either Cristian Romero or German Pezzella at centre-back; Marseille's Leonardo Balerdi and Lens' Facundo Medina – who have not represented their country for over three years – are two more central defensive options at Scaloni's disposal.
Liverpool's new signing Alexis Mac Allister was heavily involved at the World Cup and also played in both friendly fixtures in March against Panama and Curacao – with Argentina winning both by an aggregate score of 9-0 – and the midfielder will be in contention to start again on Thursday along with the likes of Enzo Fernandez, Rodrigo De Paul, Guido Rodriguez and Giovani Lo Celso, the latter of whom missed the World Cup through injury.
Alejandro Garnacho and Facundo Buonanotte are two uncapped players in Scaloni's squad who will be pushing to make their first senior appearance, and the former could be handed a start in the front three alongside Messi and either Giovanni Simeone, Angel di Maria or Nicolas Gonzalez.
Argentina possible starting lineup: E. Martinez; Montiel, Otamendi, Romero, Acuna; De Paul, Fernandez, Mac Allister; Messi, Simeone, Garnacho
Oliver Thomas
