The Coach’s Italian Slip: Lionel Scaloni’s Hilarious Press Conference Moment

The coach answered a question with a word in Italian

This Wednesday Lionel Scaloni led the press conference prior to Thursday’s clash with Paraguay at the Mas Monumental for the Qualifiers and left several notable phrases for what is to come for the world champion.

Without a doubt, the funniest moment came from a blooper from the coach who, to everyone’s surprise, confused the language and uttered a word in Italian. When asked if Lionel Messi will start the next game or if he will start from the substitute bench to take the field in the second half, he responded: “The decision is first to see how he feels and second that we have another game in 4 days (against Peru in Lima) so this is like the glass, it depends how you want to see it, play 70 or 80 minutes or the entire game and maybe with Peru nothing or can play both 90 minutes. It’s not that easy, if it’s available, one hundred percent and without any problem, you know what I think. Apparently that’s how it is, it’s fine, but then the issue of the minutaggio… I said it in Italian, I don’t know why it came out in Italian.”

The term caused laughter among those present, but Scaloni continued: “The issue of minutes is important, but what leaves us calm is that if he is not in a position to go out, whoever comes out will do it well and that is the most important thing.”

Evidently, the coach of the Albiceleste team still has splinters from his time in the Seria where he defended the Lazio shirt between 2007 and 2012 (in between he had a brief stint in Mallorca in the 2008/09 season) and for Atalanta, between 2013 and 2015, already at the end of his career.

Another of the issues mentioned in the conference was related to Boca Juniors, brand new finalist of the Copa Libertadores, an instance to which they arrived without winning a match in the direct elimination phase, since they tied the six they played and always won in definitions by penalties, especially thanks to the performances of their goalkeeper, Sergio Romero. “There is no doubt that (Romero) has a level, he has shown it. We appreciate it very much here. He is a spectacular goalkeeper. The doors are open, but today we have the kids who are there. If there are reasons to change, the doors are open. Boca has gone to penalties, but overall I think it has been superior to its rival. We also went through penalties with Holland, but we deserved to win, as did France. You don’t have to just look at what happens through penalties. In the qualifiers it was superior,” he said, remembering the match against the Netherlands in the quarterfinals and the final at the World Cup in Qatar. And he added: “It is good for Argentine football that a team can be a finalist and hopefully champion of the Cup. It is positive”

On the roster for this double FIFA date in the Argentine national team there are several sub-23 surnames. Scaloni explained that this is because abroad they do not usually give them up if the one who calls them is a youth team, which is why the AFA project has opted for carrying out this methodology of having the seniors call them and then give them to Javier Mascherano, coach of the Sub 23 and Sub 20.

These are the cases of Marco Pellegrino (Milan), Lucas Esquivel and Bruno Zapelli (Atlético Paranaense), Carlos Alcaraz (Southampton), and Facundo Farías (Inter Miami). But, Scaloni highlighted the former Lanús left back above the rest: “In the case of Esquivel, he is a boy that we are evaluating, he has even trained more than normal with us because it is a position that, given the injuries we have had in the Egg (Acuña) before and players who can arrive just right, we are interested in seeing it. He is a very interesting boy and he is the one we are more or less looking at so that he can be part of the National Team today, let’s hope so.”

Argentina will play this Thursday from 8pm against Paraguay for the third date of the South American Qualifiers where it has a perfect score after beating Ecuador and Bolivia in the first two days. Afterwards, they will have to travel to Lima to face Peru. It should be remembered that since the 2026 World Cup will have 48 teams, Conmebol added a place and therefore the six best in South America will get a direct ticket to the big competition, while the seventh will go to the playoffs.

2023-10-11 18:15:00
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