{"id":297079,"date":"2023-11-09T15:26:53","date_gmt":"2023-11-09T15:26:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/?p=297079"},"modified":"2023-11-09T15:26:53","modified_gmt":"2023-11-09T15:26:53","slug":"defender-messi-named-his-tougest-opponent-set-for-argentina-call-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/soccer\/defender-messi-named-his-tougest-opponent-set-for-argentina-call-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Defender Messi named his TOUGEST opponent set for Argentina call-up"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>LaLiga defender &#8211; who Lionel Messi named as his TOUGHEST opponent &#8211; is set to be handed first Argentina call-up by Lionel Scaloni after switching international allegiances from Spain<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>The pair met in 2017 when Messi was playing for Barcelona against Girona\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Player has never had an international cap at senior level despite Spain youth ties\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Liverpool&#8217;s Luis Diaz is extraordinary &#8211; Listen here to It&#8217;s All Kicking Off\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Argentina head coach Lionel Scaloni is set to call up a player once described by Lionel Messi as the &#8216;toughest&#8217; rival he ever faced, Mallorca defender Pablo Maffeo.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Spanish-born right back was born in Barcelona, but is of Italian and Argentine descent, and yet to make a senior team appearance for Spain.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The 26-year-old last featured internationally for Spain&#8217;s under-21 where he made five appearances between 2017 and 2018, but the call-up signals a switch of allegiances for the player following a strong run of LaLiga performances for the Balearic club.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Scaloni is thought to have monitored the former Manchester City prospect for some time in a bid to strengthen his squad options for upcoming World Cup qualifiers.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Argentina are due to face off with Uruguay and Brazil during November&#8217;s international break as they look to shore up their hold at the top of their South American qualifying group.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/09\/12\/77603717-12729839-image-a-92_1699533453063.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Lionel Messi called facing off with Pablo Maffeo one of his most intense evenings of his career<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/09\/12\/77603923-12729839-image-a-97_1699533709188.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>The 26-year-old Mallorca defender is on the verge of winning his first senior international cap<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/09\/12\/77603757-12729839-image-a-93_1699533456354.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Maffeo (left) has Argentine and Italian heritage, but previously featured for Spain&#8217;s youth team<\/p>\n<p>Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n<p>A move to the Albiceleste means a reunion for Maffeo with the eight-time Ballon d&#8217;Or winner, who had only the highest praise for the defender in 2020.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Pablo Maffeo of Girona was the toughest (defender I&#8217;ve faced). I&#8217;ve never been one who complains, but that (match) was intense!&#8217;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The fixture in question took place in 2017, when the then-Girona defender was tasked with man-marking the Inter Miami star at the end of his spell with Barcelona.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>At only 20 years old, Maffeo rose to the occasion and kept Messi almost entirely under wraps &#8211; despite the Blaugrana walking away with the tie 3-0.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>At the time, Maffeo explained:\u00a0&#8216;Messi told me: &#8220;I&#8217;ve got you here for the whole day&#8221; and I said: &#8220;You&#8217;re the best in the world, I&#8217;m not going to leave you&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;He asked me how old I was, if I had been assigned by Manchester City (where Maffeo was on loan from) and what it was like there. He said the marking was not pleasant.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Messi and I were together the whole match. He has asked me a couple of things. He is a good person.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>After leaving Man City in 2018 without making a single senior appearance in the Premier League, Maffeo had spells at Stuttgart, Heuesca, and Mallorca before making his loan permanent at the LaLiga side in 2022.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/09\/12\/77603743-12729839-image-a-96_1699533477015.jpg\" height=\"461\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>During his spell at Manchester City, Maffeo featured in just three senior ties for the club<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/09\/12\/77603759-12729839-image-a-94_1699533461232.jpg\" height=\"470\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>After leaving Man City in 2018, Maffeo endured a number of loan spells during his time at Bundesliga side Stuttgart<\/p>\n<p>Since signing his deal, Maffeo has made 42 appearances and scored twice during his travails.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The reward of a potential first senior international cap is one that has been much desired by the player.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;He&#8217;s super, super excited,&#8217; His agent Jorge Capilla told D Sports Radio. &#8216;It&#8217;s an opportunity for him. In the end, it is his mother&#8217;s country, and he has very great roots and ties (to the country), and above all, Argentina is the current world champion.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;I think it is an opportunity for everyone, it is a good moment for him, in terms of sports, and it comes at a very good age (for him).&#8217;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3>IT&#8217;S ALL KICKING OFF!\u00a0<\/h3>\n<p><span>It&#8217;s All Kicking Off\u00a0is an exciting new podcast from Mail Sport that promises a different take on Premier League football, launching with a preview show today and every week this season.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>It is available on MailOnline, Mail+, YouTube , Apple Music and Spotify<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/i\/pix\/2017\/08\/02\/636x90_facebook_ad_sport.png\" width=\"636\" height=\"90\"><br \/>\nSource: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/football\/article-12729839\/Lionel-Messi-TOUGEST-opponent-Argentina.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>LaLiga defender &#8211; who Lionel Messi named as his TOUGHEST opponent &#8211; is set to be handed first Argentina call-up [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":297078,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Defender Messi named his TOUGEST opponent set for Argentina call-up - All My Sports News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/soccer\/defender-messi-named-his-tougest-opponent-set-for-argentina-call-up\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Defender Messi named his TOUGEST opponent set for Argentina call-up - All My Sports News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"LaLiga defender &#8211; who Lionel Messi named as his TOUGHEST opponent &#8211; is set to be handed first Argentina call-up [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/soccer\/defender-messi-named-his-tougest-opponent-set-for-argentina-call-up\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"All My Sports News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-11-09T15:26:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"mediabest\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Defender-Messi-named-his-TOUGEST-opponent-set-for-Argentina-call-up.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"mediabest\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/soccer\/defender-messi-named-his-tougest-opponent-set-for-argentina-call-up\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/soccer\/defender-messi-named-his-tougest-opponent-set-for-argentina-call-up\/\",\"name\":\"Defender Messi named his TOUGEST opponent set for Argentina call-up - All My Sports News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-11-09T15:26:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-11-09T15:26:53+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74db1979fe71b5ea01513ec1ce5bc609\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/soccer\/defender-messi-named-his-tougest-opponent-set-for-argentina-call-up\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/soccer\/defender-messi-named-his-tougest-opponent-set-for-argentina-call-up\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/soccer\/defender-messi-named-his-tougest-opponent-set-for-argentina-call-up\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Soccer\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/category\/soccer\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Defender Messi named his TOUGEST opponent set for Argentina call-up\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/\",\"name\":\"All My Sports News\",\"description\":\"allmysportsnews.com\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74db1979fe71b5ea01513ec1ce5bc609\",\"name\":\"mediabest\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7cef2e0d8d634cb49d54f7c48b549a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7cef2e0d8d634cb49d54f7c48b549a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"mediabest\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Defender Messi named his TOUGEST opponent set for Argentina call-up - All My Sports News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/soccer\/defender-messi-named-his-tougest-opponent-set-for-argentina-call-up\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Defender Messi named his TOUGEST opponent set for Argentina call-up - All My Sports News","og_description":"LaLiga defender &#8211; who Lionel Messi named as his TOUGHEST opponent &#8211; is set to be handed first Argentina call-up [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/soccer\/defender-messi-named-his-tougest-opponent-set-for-argentina-call-up\/","og_site_name":"All My Sports News","article_published_time":"2023-11-09T15:26:53+00:00","author":"mediabest","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_image":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Defender-Messi-named-his-TOUGEST-opponent-set-for-Argentina-call-up.jpg","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"mediabest","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/soccer\/defender-messi-named-his-tougest-opponent-set-for-argentina-call-up\/","url":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/soccer\/defender-messi-named-his-tougest-opponent-set-for-argentina-call-up\/","name":"Defender Messi named his TOUGEST opponent set for Argentina call-up - All My Sports News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-11-09T15:26:53+00:00","dateModified":"2023-11-09T15:26:53+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74db1979fe71b5ea01513ec1ce5bc609"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/soccer\/defender-messi-named-his-tougest-opponent-set-for-argentina-call-up\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/soccer\/defender-messi-named-his-tougest-opponent-set-for-argentina-call-up\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/soccer\/defender-messi-named-his-tougest-opponent-set-for-argentina-call-up\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Soccer","item":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/category\/soccer\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Defender Messi named his TOUGEST opponent set for Argentina call-up"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/","name":"All My Sports News","description":"allmysportsnews.com","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74db1979fe71b5ea01513ec1ce5bc609","name":"mediabest","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7cef2e0d8d634cb49d54f7c48b549a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7cef2e0d8d634cb49d54f7c48b549a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"mediabest"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297079"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=297079"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297079\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/297078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=297079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=297079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=297079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}