In his last round, Lionel Scaloni surprised by including several young footballers who had never worn the albiceleste jersey on the list for the Argentine national team's matches against Venezuela and Ecuador for qualifying rounds. Some well-known surnames appear on the roster, such as Juventus man Matías Soulé and Luka Romero, the youngest player to debut in the Spanish League, today in Lazio in Italy. But there are also other names that are not on the radar of the middle football player: Franco and Valentín Carboni (Inter), Nicolás Paz (Real Madrid) ), Tiago Geralnik (Villarreal) and Alejandro Garnacho (Manchester United).
The latter was born on July 1, 2004 in Madrid, Spain, but his mother is Argentinian, which is why he holds dual nationality. Before traveling to Buenos Aires, he gave an interview to the official website of the English club in which he talked about his feelings for his call.
“I can't wait for the time to come and make the most of it. I was born in Madrid, but my mother is Argentinian, as is her entire family, and it will be an honor to be able to represent Argentina, just as it was at the time to represent Spain. I am very excited about this opportunity”, commented the young man who was already part of the U18 team in Spain.
“Since childhood I have encouraged both teams, and it is a pride for them too. For me, this is going to be more than talking about me both inside the club and outside, but this is not the important thing. I am still focused on my sport, my work, which is football, and I am very excited about this opportunity. I'm still young, this is just the beginning of my career and I'm just focused on playing football, which is what I like. And in continuing to improve as well,” he said.
While the announcement of his summons by Lionel Scaloni was a surprise, the 17-year-old striker explained that he has been in constant dialogue with Javier Mascherano, coach of the U20 National Team for a long time: “Since they were interested in me two or three months ago that (Mascherano) has always been very attentive, worrying for me. He is very attentive, and I am very grateful.” It is clear that the role of Jefecito was key for Garnacho to join the albiceleste squad.
The tip that stands out for its speed started at Atlético de Madrid, a club that could not keep it and sold it for 500,000 euros when the offers for the player who was also sought by Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund were raging. His characteristics can be key to building a partnership with Lionel Messi, with whom he had the opportunity to train: “I have always dreamed of sharing a team with stars of this level, and of learning a lot from them. It's a dream to be able to share a team with some of the idols of my childhood, so I'm going to use it to get better.”
Argentina will clash this Friday against Venezuela in La Bombonera and on March 29 will visit Ecuador in Guayaquil, to play the last match of the South American Qualifiers. In addition, the Qatar 2022 World Cup draw will be held on April 1, which will determine how the groups of the competition will be played will be formed between 21 November and 18 December.
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