Lionel Scaloni swings to the defence of Alejandro Garnacho after his poor cameo in Argentina’s loss to Paraguay | OneFootball

Argentina national team boss Lionel Scaloni launched a defence of Manchester United winger Alejandro Garnacho following his poor cameo in the side’s 2-1 defeat to Paraguay.

The Albiceleste slipped to a third loss in their 2026 World Cup qualifiers, in an uninspiring performance at Estadio Defensores del Chaco in Asuncion.

Inter Milan’s Lautaro Martinez gave Argentina the lead just 11 minutes in but Paraguay restored parity moments later through Antonio Sanabria.

The hosts took the lead two minutes after the restart courtesy of Omar Alderete. In an effort to try and get back into the game, Scaloni turned to his bench and brought on Garnacho with 26 minutes left on the clock.

However, the Carrington academy graduate didn’t have the desired impact.

Garnacho failed to register a shot and didn’t complete the one dribble he embarked on. He also won just one of the five aerial duels he delved into.

(Stats obtained from Sofascore)

Clarin newspaper gave Garnacho a player rating of 4/10, claiming he “did not have any influence on the attack.”

However, after the match, Scaloni defended Garnacho.  He said [via TNT Sports Argentina], “We seek to have depth with the entry of Garnacho. It does him good to play these kinds of games.”

“I’m not here to criticize my players, I’m here to support them. We knew it was going to be a tough game. We’re here to keep going and give confidence to many of the new players.”

“We played well in the first half and the first action at the start of the second made everything difficult.”

“We have to congratulate our opponents who defended very well.”

Scaloni will certainly be hoping for far better fortunes when his players face off against Peru on Wednesday morning.

Featured image Christian Alvarenga via Getty Images