Despite only making 19 appearances for Argentina, Tottenham Hotspur star Cristian Romero has won two major international trophies for his country in less than 18 months. Romero starred in Argentina's Copa America winning campaign in the summer of 2021 and played a pivotal role in guiding Argentina to 2022 World Cup glory in Qatar over the weekend.
Romero started with a wobble or two against Saudi Arabia in his first match back from injury in Argentina's opening game, which saw him lose his spot to Manchester United's Lisandro Martinez against Mexico. However, after being brought back into the starting line up against Poland, he gradually impressed more and more in Qatar before stepping up with his best performance to date in the final at the Lusail Stadium.
Although France scored three goals across 120 minutes of football, all scored by Kylian Mbappe, Romero hardly put a foot wrong and deservedly basked in the glory of Argentina's win, which included a particularly noticeable celebration in front of Mbappe.
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There was never any doubt over the quality Argentina had in attack with Lionel Messi often joined by the likes of Carlos Tevez, Sergio Aguero, Angel Di Maria and now Julian Alvarez, but their defensive options always seemed to let them down.
However, the emergence of Emiliano Martinez and Romero on the international scene have significantly helped the spine of Argentina's team, with Messi making a huge claim on Romero's impact in the Copa American win in the Netflix documentary Sean Eternos: Campeones de America saying: "Cuti's appearance was extraordinary for us, for the future of the team and for that moment."
The relationship between Messi and Romero is clearly strong and following Argentina's dramatic win on penalties the duo were captured by Teledeporte sharing an emotional hug on the pitch.
Romero looked close to tears in the video and can be heard saying: "Te lo merecias", which translates to 'you deserved it' in English. And the Tottenham star is certainly correct with Messi finally winning the one major trophy that has alluded him, with many footballers, past and present, believing his triumph ends the 'GOAT' debate with Cristiano Ronaldo.
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