Argentina's Messi dependency is a sickness - but Dybala isn't the cure

As talented as the young Juve star is, only Leo has the presence to lift an otherwise mediocre Albiceleste team as Russia 2018 looms large
Finally, he could stand to watch no more. Shortly after Spain's sixth goal flew past the hapless Willy Caballero Argentina's talisman, head bowed, he retired from his seat in the Wanda Metropolitana and headed for the bowels of Atletico Madrid's impeccable new stadium.
Lionel Messi had once more been sorely missed by his nation as they were dismantled by the Roja in Madrid, underlining, if there had ever been any doubt, that on his well-being lie the faint World Cup hopes of an entire nation. Over in Turin, meanwhile, another spectacularly talented No.10 may have taken in the match on television, far from his compatriots who hobbled through the final few minutes. Truth be told, there is little Paulo Dybala could have done either to avoid a result that ranks alongside 6-1 drubbings to Czechoslovakia in the 1958 World Cup and 2009's hammering in La Paz to Bolivia as the worst in Argentine football history.
The case for Dybala to be in this Albiceleste line-up has been justifiably aired in the hours following defeat. That the Juventus star is an outstanding talent. That as a playmaker he has few superiors in the football world. That if anything happens to Messi, God forbid, the 24-year-old Cordoba native simply must be on deck to replace the maestro and carry an otherwise dishevelled team to glory. The first two points are wholly accurate; the third, alas, misguided.