The thing with replacing Lionel Messi is the person replacing him will not be Lionel Messi, and on account of the other person not being Lionel Messi they’d need to be superhuman to not come up short.
Sergio Aguero at times has seemed close to being superhuman, but even he has come in for criticism after failing to match up. During the last international break it was Tottenham’s Erik Lamela who got the negativity, so someone else had to take their turn.
Messi is currently injured and for Argentina’s match against Peru, it was Aguero who wore the number 10 shirt. The match ended 2-2, and there are negative reports all around in Argentina.
Telam say Aguero was ‘commissioned to carry the number ten shirt in the absence of injured star Lionel Messi in the game against Peru’, but all the Manchester City striker could provide was ‘deep nostalgia for the absence of the crack of Barcelona.’
Ole newspaper rated the Manchester City player 3.5/10 for his performance, and say he wasn’t really in the game, failing to link up with other players.
Exactly a month ago, the same newspaper rated Lamela 4/10 for his performance in the 2-2 draw with Venezuela, after saying before the match that he was the man chosen to stand in for Messi. The Tottenham player didn’t even get on the pitch this time around.
Olé columnist Hernan Claus said of Lamela at the time “not even his assist saved him from a bad performance”.
He also compared the player’s match to what he’s used to doing in the Premier League: “Erik played in almost the same role as at Tottenham, where every weekend he has highlights of skills and passes for goals. But this time he could never impose one on one and most of his attacks ended in inconsequential touches.”
There’s a lesson here for Argentina. Hide the No.10 shirt when Messi isn’t around, give it to a reserve goalkeeper, and don’t hype players up to be a Messi stand-in… because it’s impossible.
