Dybala Denies Scaloni Rift

By Joshua Walters

Paulo Dybala has denied rumors he is not on good terms with Argentina interim coach Lionel Scaloni, and says people must judge the relationship between them on what they see on the field.

Dybala was a come-on in Argentina’s barren draw game against Columbia in New Jersey and was an unused bench in the side’s 3-0 win over Guatemala.

The Juventus icon’s brother, Gustavo, opened up speculations of a possible rift between Dybala and Scaloni when he posted on social media that: ‘Because you don't make them money, they will not play you."

But, Dybala denied having a feud with Scaloni in an interview on Wednesday, and said his brother may have made the claim out of the pain of not seeing him play in the game against Guatemala. 

"Our families always want us to play and many times in the heat of the moment these things happen," Dybala told TyC Sports in response to claims there is bad blood with Scaloni.

 "I have a good relationship with the coach and with the technical staff.

"I'm grateful to be here and I thank Scaloni. This is a beautiful group, with many young players who are very eager. You always want to be in the national team. I think people just have to put the focus on matters on the pitch.”

Scaloni also denied the speculations which he described as ‘stupid’ and explained Dybala did not feature against Guatemala because he did not train with the team prior to the game.

"You think I have a problem with him? He's a phenomenon," Scaloni told TyC Sports of Dybala after the game. "What happened is we didn't train [with him] during the week and he knows that.

"He's a great one. Let's not make a stupid case because there isn't one and what we need is for Argentina to push forward."