The wait is over and today Argentina begin their Copa América campaign to hopefully go one better than they managed in Brazil and claim a first senior title since lifting this trophy back in 1993. Paraguay are today’s opponents in La Serena and although Gerardo Martino did not have all his squad available last Saturday for the friendly against Bolivia, the Argentina coach now has Lionel Messi and the Champions League quartet available for selection.

Last Saturday deprived of these four, Argentina put in a very positive display albeit against a very poor Bolivia side which provided almost no test for either the defence or the more defensive minded midfielders. However, on the positive side Sergio Agüero looked in fine form as he fired a hat-trick and Ángel Di María showed no signs of a lack of confidence after his testing season in Manchester. Add Messi into that attack and it is a mouth-watering prospect for La Albiceleste.

Gerardo Martino has stayed faithful to Alejandro Sabella’s 4-3-3 but has modified this slightly to provide a little more stability. Di María has been pushed forward into the front three rather than the midfield, as favoured by Sabella, and this means that Argentina now have a more conventional 4-3-3 rather than the 4-2-4 that Sabella’s often was. Di María’s inclusion in the midfield meant that Argentina were set-up to play on the counter at pace and in Brazil, it struggled to break down sides that defended deeply in numbers. After the injury to Di María there was not enough of a link to the attack and Messi was forced to drop further but with the talented Javier Pastore now completing the midfield trio, La Albiceleste should control more of the possession and be able to build attacks more gradually.

A holding two still provides protection to the defence and although Lucas Biglia will not be risked in the opener against Parauay after just recovering from a knee injury, the combination of Javier Mascherano with Éver Banega is a solid pairing.

The new addition to the defence is Nicolás Otamendi and the Valencia centre-back is another coming off a fine season and that would normally have been the only change to the back four but like Biglia, Pablo Zabaleta is not to be risked. The Manchester City full-back has struggled this week and only just returned to training on Thursday and so as it was against Bolivia, Facundo Roncaglia will stand in. There were doubts over goalkeeper Sergio Romero, after he was withdrawn at half time last Saturday with a shoulder injury, but the hero of the World Cup semi final penalty shootout is fit to add another cap to his record breaking haul of appearances for an Argentine keeper.

Argentina starting eleven: Sergio Romero; Facundo Roncaglia, Ezequiel Garay, Nicolás Otamendi, Marcos Rojo; Éver Banega, Javier Mascherano, Javier Pastore; Lionel Messi (C), Sergio Agüero, Ángel Di María

Paraguay will come into the match as huge underdogs but it is a side that Gerardo Martino has a lot of respect for having led them to their best ever Copa América in 2011 when they finished runners-up. Speaking in yesterday’s press conference, Martino said: “As a coach I owe everything to Paraguay. These boys gave us five marvellous years.”

However there will be no room for sentiment and Martino intimated it would be nothing short of a disgrace if his side were not to begin their campaign with a win. Tata admitted that Argentina did not arrive in the best form and seemed to take partial responsibility for this given that he had been in charge of Barcelona’s trophyless season. This time round, Martino said, “Messi and the rest of our players arrived at this Copa América in their peak form.”

Statistics

The statistics certainly point to an Argentina win as La Albiceleste have never lost to Paraguay in the Copa América. The 81.8% win ratio (18 from 22) is actually the highest win percentage than against any other side but perhaps Paraguay will feel that they are closing the gap. Of those four times they have avoided defeat, three game in the previous six meetings between the two sides. Ramón Díaz would be very happy if his side could add another draw to this stat on Satuday.

Chile has also proved to be happy hunting ground for Argentina with La Albiceleste winning four of the six tournaments held over the border (1941, 1945, 1955 and 1991) and of the 29 Copa América matches played in Chile, Argentina have lost just once (against Uruguay in 1926).

The record on opening days is equally strong with Argentina having won seven of the last nine with two draws. Not since 1979 have they tasted defeat on the first day but this is actually bettered by Paraguay, who have not lost their opener since 1975.

Head to Head

Of the 103 times the two sides have met, Paraguay have won just 15 with Argentina claiming 58 victories.

The previous three meetings have been won by Argentina with an aggregate score of 12-5.