As Argentina prepare to face the Netherlands, coach Lionel Scaloni gives injury updates on Juventus man Angel Di Maria and explains why Roma’s Paulo Dybala hasn’t played a single minute at the World Cup.
The quarter-final kicks off on Friday at 19.00 GMT in Qatar.
The build-up to this match has been dominated by injury news, with suggestions former Udinese midfielder Rodrigo De Paul is out of action, while Juve’s Di Maria could return after missing the Round of 16 victory over Australia with a muscular problem.
“Our training session was behind closed doors, why are you asking me about De Paul?” replied coach Scaloni in an ill-tempered press conference.
“Are you trying to help the Netherlands? It’s not good for us when information leaks out into the media, it is all very strange.
“There is one more training session and we’ll see whether Rodrigo and Fideo are able to play or not. The system will also probably depend on how the wingers are doing physically, as the important thing is that whoever plays is at 100 per cent.”
While there have been at least glimpses of most of the Argentina players in this tournament, there hasn’t been a single minute on the field for Roma striker Dybala.
“He is doing fine, we just haven’t had the right opportunity to put him in yet. We have 26 players available and try to bring in those who can adapt to the way the game is going at that moment.”
Inter centre-forward Lautaro Martinez is expected to be dropped again in favour of Julian Alvarez.