Argentina eye on Rodrigo De Paul fitness ahead of their World Cup quarter-final against the Netherlands.
Rodrigo is suffering from muscle issues, according to reports in his homeland, but has taken to social media to assure fans that “eveything is okay”.
Elsewhere for Argentina, Manchester City striker Julian Alvarez should feature again
having started and scored against both Poland and Australia.
Lautaro Martinez is carrying an ankle injury a the World Cup, his agent has claimed, and will likely be on the bench after missing chances off the bench against Australia.
Angel Di Maria missed the last-16 but that was believed to just be a precaution, and he could well return to face the Netherlands with Papu Gomez, who sprained his ankle against Australia, probably the one to drop out.
The centre-back duo of Nicolas Otamendi and Cristian Romero is clearly Lionel Scaloni’s preferred pairing, so Lisandro Martinez is expected to once again be on the bench.
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Lionel Messi has three goals so far in Qatar, dragging Argentina through almost single-handedly at times, and will need to be at his best once again.
Netherlands: There are no new injury concerns as Louis van Gaal not a man to deviate too much from his formula so there should not be major changes.
Memphis Depay now looks up to full speed again and has formed a dangerous partnership up front with Cody Gakpo, while Davy Klaassen is the favourite to again start behind them.
Denzel Dumfries will come into this match full of confidence after his last-16 display against the USA, scoring once and providing two assists.
That performance earned him a kiss from Van Gaal in the post-match press conference.
The back three should remain unchanged, with Jurrien Timber evidently trusted more than Matthijs de Ligt.
Predicted Netherlands XI (3-4-2-1):
Noppert;
Timber, Van Dijk, Ake;
Dumfries, De Roon, De Jong, Blind;
Klaasen;
Gakpo, Depay
Predicted Argentina XI (4-3-3):
Martinez;
Molina, Romero, Otamendi, Acuna;
De Paul, Fernandez, Mac Allister;
Di Maria, Messi, Alvarez
