The foam for the national team fell in Bilbao. Lionel Messi walks out of the door of the Hotel Gran Dominé at five in the afternoon and it’s just a group of four or five Argentines yelling at him to earn the 10 o’clock greeting, which was the King of Wembley on Final Thursday against Italy. In this tranquility, and already with the celebrations of a new Olympic round in the past, the blue and black and white team continues its preparation at the Athletic Bilbao headquarters. Lionel Scaloni draws a very different lineup to face Estonia on Sunday and this Friday afternoon he had another victim: Angel Correa was fired to study in Madrid. The bigger question is whether the captain will leave despite the substitution.

Neither Emiliano Martínez nor Leandro Paredes had returned to the Basque Country with the delegation, which was released because they will continue with their respective recoveries to be able to arrive in optimal conditions at the beginning of the preseason with their clubs. But in the last few hours it has been confirmed that Correa has also been excluded for the friendly match in Pamplona.

What happened to the Atlético de Madrid player? As confirmed in Clarione From his surroundings, Angelito will have to undergo heart surgery again. However, he is at lower risk and has to deal with the operation he underwent in 2014 to remove a cyst in his left ventricle. It is that the prosthesis placed in the sternum at that moment has moved and this causes discomfort.

It is not in danger, as detailed, and there is no date yet to enter the operating room, although it is estimated that it will be as soon as possible. The striker is angry that he was number one to play this weekend, but in good health.

While following this situation closely, Scaloni prepares the friendly against Estonia. And, as he had anticipated Clarione After beating Italy 3-0, they will take advantage of this second group match to try other names and start sharpening their pencil for the World Cup standings.

The TD has not yet given any indications on the team, but it is estimated that names such as Franco Armani, Gonzalo Montiel, Germán Pezzella, Lisandro Martínez, Marcos Acuña, Alejandro Gómez, Alexis Mac Allister, Paulo Dybala and Nicolás González could have their chance from ‘ Start.

And Messi? This is the great unknown right now. Leo never wants to watch a game from the outside, even if it’s a friendly match. A fact: in the Scaloni cycle, the rosary barely went once to the bank. It happened in November 2021 in Montevideo against Uruguay (Dybala started as his replacement). The flea then entered the plugin.

Will it be the second time in this new era that he replaces? Or will Messi say present again beyond the variants? Something similar happened in the last Copa América when, with the ranking in his pocket, Scaloni rotated against Bolivia. On that occasion Lionel asked to play the same.