Jorge Sampaoli's European Tour
The European tour that Jorge Sampaoli is facing had one of its highlights on Tuesday morning. The National Team's head coach met face to face with Lionel Messi in Barcelona to outline the final stage of the planning towards the World Cup, which will start in June.
They were alone. No one bothered them. During the span of an hour, the sky-blue and white coach and the best player in the world talked non-stop within the four walls of an office in the Catalan club's facility. The main focus of the conversation, of course, was the preparation of the Rosario superstar to arrive at the World Cup in the best possible way.
As Leo himself said at the end of 2017, in these previous months he will try to conserve his energy to avoid overexertion. He will no longer be the Messi who played 90 minutes in every match wearing the blue and red jersey. In fact, he wasn't present in the Copa del Rey match that Ernesto Valverde's team drew against Celta de Vigo in the first leg of the round of 16, but he did play against Levante in the league, scoring a goal.
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They analyzed the opponents Argentina will have to surpass in Group D to finish first and advance to the next round: Iceland, Croatia, and Nigeria. They talked about the team's tactical functioning, the group dynamics, and football in general.
This is the fourth time that Sampaoli has approached Barcelona since becoming the coach of the national team, not only to establish contact with Messi, but also with his inner circle.
For instance, before locking themselves in that office with The Flea, the coach from Casilda attended Barcelona's training session. He spoke again with Javier Mascherano, with whom he had already met on Monday, and exchanged ideas with Valverde and his collaborators.
Jorge Desio, the physical trainer of the Argentine team who is accompanying Sampaoli on this trip along with Sebastián Beccacece, also gathered first-hand information from Barça's fitness coach. All this is aimed at enriching themselves with data that will later be taken into account in the planning of the pre-World Cup preparations.
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In fact, the preparation will take place at Barcelona's Sports City starting from June 1st. The location, as announced by Clarín, was chosen for Lionel Messi's comfort.
Sampaoli wants the best player on the planet to feel optimal in every sense, both football-wise and as a person. Because around those dates, Messi's wife Antonella will give birth to their third child, and being close to home will remove an additional worry from Leo's mind, allowing him to be more focused.
After concluding his visit to Catalonia in more than a satisfactory manner, Sampaoli will arrive in Madrid on Wednesday. There, he plans to attend an Atlético de Madrid practice. The main objective will be to meet with Angel Correa for the first time, who has been in great form.
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A meeting between the two coaches has not been confirmed, but it is not ruled out. Time will tell. As the weekend approaches, Sampa will leave Spanish territory to set foot in England.
He will speak with Sergio Agüero -now his starting striker-, Sergio Romero, Marcos Rojo, and Ramiro Funes Mori. He also has scheduled meetings with Josep Guardiola and José Mourinho.
Afterwards, he will travel to Italy to see Gonzalo Higuaín, Mauro Icardi, Paulo Dybala, and Lucas Biglia. And finally, he will land in Paris to assess the situation of Angel Di María, one of Messi's best teammates in the national team.