Why is Ángel Di María not playing for Argentina against Paraguay in the World Cup qualifiers?

Most of the pre-match talk ahead of Argentina’s World Cup qualifying double header has surrounded the fitness of Inter Miami star Lionel Messi. The seven-time Ballon d’Or aggravated an old scar tissue injury in the September international break but made his MLS return for The Herons on Saturday. “Will he start?” is now the question on everybody’s lips, although one man who definitely won’t is former Real Madrid star Ángel Di María.

The 35-year-old has won the overwhelming majority of his 134 Argentina caps alongside Messi, eight months his senior. The duo have teamed up to lead La Albicelesete to an Olympic Gold medal in 2008, the 2021 Copa América, the 2022 Finalissima and, of course, the 2022 World Cup. They will not, however, be joining forces once more as the world champions continue their FIFA World Cup 2026 qualifying campaign at home to Paraguay on Thursday.

What injury does Di María have? How long will he be out?

Argentina kicked off qualification with a 1-0 victory over Ecuador, thanks to a Messi free-kick, and a 3-0 win away to Bolivia. Di María captained his country in the Inter Miami star’s absence in the second of those Games and also took the armband after his teammate was forced off in the first.

But it was the Benfica winger’s turn to be struck down by injury in last week’s Champions League defeat to Inter at San Siro. The ex-Madrid man, who has scored five goals in six league matches since returning to Portugal, suffered a thigh injury in Milan and although it isn’t expected to keep him on the sidelines for too long, he won’t feature against Paraguay or in Argentina’s second Game of the October break in Peru.

Why is Pablo Dybala not playing for Argentina against Paraguay?

To make matters worse for head coach Lionel Scaloni, Paulo Dybala, a possible replacement for Di María, was forced to pull out of the squad after taking a blow to his knee in Roma’s win over Cagliari in Serie A on Sunday.

Defenders Lisandro Martínez and Juan Foyth, as well as attacker Ángel Correa, are the other injury absentees from the roster for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers.