The crowd chanted his name, but Lionel Messi never came. Argentina’s otherworldly icon had been named in their latest squad, was down on the team sheet as one of the substitutes, but sat in the stands at the Etihad Stadium where his side took on Italy.
The majority of the supporters assembled in the half full arena weren’t aware he wasn’t on the bench as stated, and held out hope until the end. It was a test for the fans’ resolve, and they resorted to a Mexican Wave to entertain themselves in the second half, and this appeared to inject some life into the game.
It was also a test for Jorge Sampaoli’s Argentina side, who had to make do without their supremely talented talisman and find a way to goal without him.
One place in the attack was taken up by a player familiar to these shores, Manuel Lanzini. The West Ham United man was anonymous in the first half, when much of the play went through the enterprising Angel Di Maria.
Argentina were on top but unable to make their dominance count on the scoreboard in the opening period. Gonzalo Higuain laboured somewhat, at least initially, and the game matched the subdued atmosphere in the stadium.
The Argentina No 9 woke Gianluigi Buffon on a couple of occasions, as did Di Maria, who was helped by an encouraging display from Nicolas Tagliafico behind him at left back.
Leandro Paredes sent an effort just wide from distance, while Nicolas Otamendi saw his header from Di Maria’s corner well saved by the Italy legend between the posts
The second half started similarly, but then came that Mexican Wave, and shortly after that came the introduction of Diego Perotti and Ever Banega, who replaced Di Maria and Paredes.
While Di Maria had ploughed a lone furrow, using his startling acceleration to lose his own team as well as the opposition, Perotti slotted in well, working with those around him to create openings, letting the ball provide the attacking pace and moving well off it.
His introduction, or possibly Di Maria’s exit, also saw Lanzini come into the game, and it was he who won the ball back in the build-up to the opening goal. On winning the ball he passed it on to Banega, who played a neat one-two with Giovani Lo Celso before firing low and into the corner of Buffon’s goal.
It was an encouraging piece of play which involved some typical Sampaoli pressing, and good combinations between players who weren’t Messi. Lo Celso was playing an attacking midfield role which the coach says replicated where Messi has played in training.
"We had trained with Leo [in that position], so we put Gio in to not alter the plan," said Sampaoli, placing the ‘Messi role’ on the shoulders of the 21-year-old Paris Saint-Germain midfielder.
The manager also praised Di Maria, which suggests he’ll retain his spot in the starting XI regardless, and elsewhere, Banega may have played his way into the lineup.
The team seemed to click together even more smoothly when Cristian Pavon replaced Lo Celso later in the half.
The second goal was an excellent piece of counter-attacking play initiated by Otamendi, whose pass to Higuain created a three on two against the Italian defence.
Pavon lurked importantly and with intent on the right, but the centre-forward chose the correct option, offloading to Lanzini who struck emphatically into the top corner from the left.
Sampaoli will have been pleased with the manner of both his side’s goals and the teamwork involved in them.
"In some passages of play we saw things that were very interesting and improved our game plan,” he said.
"We want the Argentine national team to be one which has a defined game plan, and then gets behind it."
Sampaoli would rather have had time on the training pitch to drill this game plan into his squad prior to the World Cup.
At club level the Argentine manager’s success has arrived using a system of high pressing and high intensity which requires positional discipline off the ball, and quick passing movements on it.
If he can transfer his ideas across in time for the tournament, then this could be a different Argentina than the one which has relied on Messi for so long, despite having an array of attacking talent.
After the game Sampaoli seemed relatively pleased with the exercise, and may now be glad he has these friendly games on top of some time on the training pitch.
Messi and his pal, Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero, will have had a good view of the Sampaoli plan in action from their seat in the stands, and if the pair can integrate into the system they saw, then Argentina could be a threat at the upcoming World Cup as they look to go one better than the defeated finalists they were in Brazil in 2014.
“We have to find the way we are going to play the World Cup, that is what we are looking for in these friendlies," added Sampaoli.
In his training sessions he may be planning for a World Cup with Messi in the starting XI, but here there were signs that there could be much more to Sampaoli’s Argentina than simply getting the ball to their No 10 and hoping for the best.
