‘I think phones will go missing. Suddenly players end up in Buenos Aires!’: A big club vs country row is brewing for Argentina’s Premier League stars, Oliver Holt tells WORLD CUP CONFIDENTIAL
We now know it will be Lionel Messi’s Argentina taking on Kylian Mbappe’s France for 2022 World Cup supremacy on Sunday.
France produced a 2-0 win over Morocco to seal their place and now club mates Mbappe and Messi will lock horns in front of a packed Lusail Stadium.
But, for The Mail on Sunday’s chief sports writer Oliver Holt, there is the potential for a huge club vs country row if Argentina go on to win the World Cup on the eve of Premier League football restarting on Boxing Day.
Lionel Scaloni’s squad is littered with Premier League stars including goalkeeper Emi Martinez (Aston Villa), defenders Lisandro Martinez (Manchester United) and Cristian Romero (Tottenham), as well as midfielder Alexis Mac Allister (Brighton) and striker Julian Alvarez (Manchester City).
Should Argentina go on to win the tournament, the question has been posed as to whether those five players will be nowhere to be found on Boxing Day when their teams are back in league action.
Also in today’s WORLD CUP CONFIDENTIAL:
- Rob Draper believes that Manchester United are one of the biggest beneficiaries of the World Cup given the rejuvenation of Harry Maguire and Marcus Rashford
- Ian Herbert suggests a virus in France’s camp means it’s not beyond the realms of possibility for Karim Benzema to be recalled
- Oliver Holt argues that Morocco’s unexpected progress to the semi-finals might go on to redraw football’s map and alter expectations
WATCH THE FULL VIDEO HERE
Our writers Oliver Holt, Rob Draper and Ian Herbert were speaking as part of Sportsmail and MailPlus’ daily videocast ‘World Cup Confidential’.
It appears on MailOnline every morning of the tournament and can be found on our YouTube channel.
Lionel Messi played a starring role as Argentina beat Croatia to reach the World Cup final
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