Paredes effect: his new role and chances against Croatia

He arrived in Qatar as the starting central midfielder. It had been one of Lionel Scaloni’s great bets since the cycle began at the end of 2018, not for nothing is he the second player with the most appearances behind his friend Rodrigo De Paul. When the midfield was recited, De Paul-Paredes-Lo Celso almost came out of memory, but Gio’s injury changed the DT’s plans and also changed the outlook for Leandro Paredes in the National Team.

The Juventus midfielder started the World Cup as a starter against Saudi Arabia. And in a strange game, in which the team had everything under control and in a little while they turned it around, Leandro was the first to leave. And in losing the position for what followed in the World Cup. He did not enter with Mexico, he had good minutes (more than 30′) with Poland, he looked at the classification against Australia without entering and played an important role in the duel against the Netherlands, since he entered to make the stamina with the 1-0 game, but later he was important in the reconstruction of La Scaloneta in the supplementary, when the ball was heavy. And a detail that is not overlooked: he asked for the ball to kick the second penalty and converted it with category.

Leawho lived a difficult week since his grandfather died before the quarterfinal match, always pushed forward. Other footballers would have found it difficult to get out of the main role to get into a more secondary one. But the former Boca put “us before me”, what Alejandro Sabella preached so much in group talks. Always with a smile, looking to encourage and advise Enzo Fernández, who took his job. And before the Netherlands he once again had a prominent place: “I felt good, it was important to be at 100 percent for when the coach needed me. The penalty? I was calm, very confident, I practiced all week and luckily he got in,” he told oléin the middle of the festivities.

The duel with Croatia is coming, for the World Cup semifinals, and DT will have a more limited squad: they will not be able to count on the suspended Montiel and Acuña, and it will be necessary to see if Papu Gómez arrives in good condition. ¿Y De Paul? Rodrigo, who suffers from muscular fatigue, will be taken care of in these previous days so that he arrives in good condition and most believe that he will not miss this game for anything in the world. But it is clear that if the Scaloneta engine does not start as a starter, his place will be taken by Leandro Paredes, as happened against the Netherlands, when he replaced him at 22′ into the second half.

“There is no explanation for what we are experiencing, what we feel, hopefully people are happy and that we can continue taking steps,” said the 28-year-old midfielder., important in the internal dynamics of the National Team, close to Messi, Di María, De Paul, Otamendi and Papu Gómez. “We suffered a lot to get to the semifinals. What happened was unfair, the ten additional minutes, the foul he charged and all that, but we managed to get through and we met our goal… But now we must think about Croatia,” he described.

Paredes, a close friend of Neymar and Marquinhos from his time at PSG, explained how they found out about Brazil’s elimination. “We entered the locker room five minutes before and we saw the penalties. It’s a pity that a favorite has been left out, an important team,” he said with great respect about what could have been a South American duel in the semis in Qatar, but finally the Scaloneta will face Croatia.