Portugal v Argentina Combined XI – Cristiano Ronaldo & Lionel Messi Naturally Lead The Line Ahead Of Friendly

Injuries have hit the squads of both teams

Portugal and Argentina play each other on 18 November, with the match being billed as a face off between Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.

While these two are great players, there are a number of other stars on show at Old Trafford.

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Players from Manchester United, Barcelona, and Real Madrid will all be taking the field in the highly anticipated friendly.

Here is a combined XI, not including injured players Marcos Rojo and Fabio Coentrao.

GK) Rui Patricio

The Sporting Lisbon goalkeeper has been a regular for Portugal for years now, and beats competition from Argentina’s Willy Caballero and Sergio Romero for the position.

RB) Pablo Zabaleta

The Manchester City man is one of the most reliable Premier League performers and one of the best right-backs in the world.

LB) Cristian Ansaldi

Currently on loan at Atletico Madrid from Zenit St. Petersburg, the Argentine takes the left-back slot with both Coentrao and Rojo currently injured.

CB) Pepe

The centre-back has been in good form for Madrid this season and will be looking to bring that to his national team.

CB) Martin Demichelis

Since recovering from a poor start at City, Demichelis has been fairly reliable. Neither of these teams are the strongest at the back, and so the 33-year-old gets in to the combined XI.

CM) Javier Mascherano

Brilliant at the 2014 World Cup, but still being continually played out of position at Barcelona.

When placed in front of the defence, Mascherano is one of the best holding midfielders in the world.

CM) Joao Moutinho

A brilliant passer of the ball, Moutinho really needs to move from AS Monaco to improve his standing in world football. Even so, he still a great midfielder.

CM) Angel di Maria

Manchester United’s record signing has hit the ground running at his club, and will be looking to continue that with Argentina. His creativity is important in midfield.

RW) Lionel Messi

The 27-year-old may not be in the same goalscoring form that he has been in the past, but Messi is still competing to be the best player in the world.

LW) Cristiano Ronaldo

With 21 goals already this season, the Portuguese star is in unbelievable form.

ST) Sergio Aguero

The striker has managed to keep the Citizens near the top of the Premier League this season, despite the side not playing well.

The 26-year-old already has 12 goals.