Manchester United defender Raphael Varane starts for France but Lisandro Martinez in on the bench for Argentina in today’s World Cup final.
There were doubts about Varane not playing at all because two days before the final, Varane was struck by a flu-like illness, which meant he had to stay away from his French team-mates, however, on Saturday evening, he was pictured in training, which suggests that he came through the training session without any concerns.
Varane is making his fifth start of the tournament and he is hoping to make history by becoming the first player to win four Champions League titles and two World Cups, which would be a remarkable achievement for the former Real Madrid man.
🚨 The teams for the #FIFAWorldCup as Argentina take on France https://t.co/SGZ72SL6QH#ARG | #FRA pic.twitter.com/Zg0zmfxRfY
— Mirror Football (@MirrorFootball) December 18, 2022
It looked as though Martinez was in contention to starting the final, as according to DiarioOle, he was seen practicing in a back three alongside Nicolas Otamendi and Cristian Romero of Tottenham, but Lionel Scaloni has opted to go for Otamendi and Romero has his two starting centre backs, which means that Martinez is on the bench.
Argentina practiced with a back three of Lisandro MartĂnez, Cristian Romero and Nicolás Otamendi in training on Friday [@DiarioOle]
— utdreport (@utdreport) December 17, 2022
However, even though he will feel downbeat at the chance of not starting a World Cup final, Martinez should remain positive as his team has the opporutnity to a win a World Cup and that he might come off the substitute bench, like he has done against Saudi Arabia and Croatia [Transfermarkt].
The game between Argentina and France will kick off at 3pm UK time at the Lusail Stadium, and from a United perspective, hopefully both players can do themselves proud and put on a good performance in front of a worldwide TV audience.