The lineups for the Superclasico aka Brazil vs Argentina have been announced, with Selecao coach Site giving Thiago Silva the captain’s armband for the friendly at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Friday.
Silva, playing his first international game since the 2015 Copa America, will have to lead a Neymar-less Brazil side against their arch-rivals. The Selecao are trotting out in a 4-1-4-1 formation, with Manchester City hot-shot Gabriel Jesus leading the line.
Newly-appointed Argentina coach Jorge Sampaoli has chosen to send out a standard XI and it will be interesting to see if Paulo Dybala will be able to combine well with their talismanic captain, Lionel Messi.
Argentina: Sergio Romero, Gabriel Mercado, Jonatan Maidana, Nicolas Otamendi, Alejandro Gomez, Lucas Biglia, Ever Banega, Angel Di Maria, Paulo Dybala, Lionel Messi (c) and Gonzalo Higuain.
Brazil: Weverton, Fágner, Thiago Silva (c), Gil, Felipe Luís, Paulinho, Fernandinho, Renato Augusto; Philippe Coutinho, Gabriel Jesus and Willian.