Lionel Messi, Neymar, and more: The most in-form South American XI in football

Modified Jan 19, 2020 21:28 GMT

Second striker: Lionel Messi

It would be hard to imagine saying anything about Barcelona's mercurial captain that hasn't been said before. Lionel Messi is simply the most phenomenal football player to grace the sport since the turn of the century and has won everything there is to win at club level including two historic trebles.

The Argentine has won a record 6 Ballon d'Ors and a Golden Ball at a World Cup, powering La Albiceleste all the way to the finals of the 2014 World Cup where Mario Gotze stole the show to give Germany the win. In the 2018/19 season, he won the European Golden Boot for his 36 goals in 34 league appearances during which he also registered 13 assists.

Despite beginning the current season with an injury, Messi has racked up 13 goals in as many starts in the league along with 6 assists. In the Champions League, he's scored 2 and set up a further 3 for the Blaugrana.

His spot on this list was never in doubt, as should be the case by all means. Lionel Messi is simply sensational and he would hope to power Argentina to a Copa America title in his home country this year.

Striker: Sergio Kun Agüero

Sergio Agüero is arguably one of the best centre-forwards in Europe at the moment. Despite his season being marred by injuries, Manchester City's record-breaking striker has been in unbelievable form so far, scoring 15 league goals with 3 assists in just 13 starts this season and 4 appearances off the bench.

The Argentine has been in the headlines lately after breaking Thierry Henry's long-standing record as the highest non-English goalscorer in Premier League history, as well as Alan Shearer's record for most Premier League hat-tricks. Both records were incidentally broken with a sublime hat-trick at Villa Park just under a week ago in a 6-1 win for the Cityzens. For Argentina, he's scored 41 in 97 appearances since September 2006.

Kun Agüero should undoubtedly be Argentina's first-choice centre-forward at the Copa America. He will go down in history as one of the finest ever No.9s produced by La Albiceleste and the South American continent.

On paper, the team would set up in this manner: