'Being Messi's friend doesn't make me a starter'

"Being Messi's friend does not make me a starter, because if it did I would have played more minutes. What happens is that people have been seeing us in the national team for many years. We're the old faces and they're sick of us," Aguero explained.

Meanwhile, 'Kun' took the opportunity to laud Barcelona star Messi, saying "Are we seeing the best version of Messi? What Leo has been doing all these years is very difficult. At the last world Cup he also played very well. If he had scored in the final it owuld have been his tournament."

Finally, despite Messi often being criticised for his performances for the 'Albiceleste', Aguero jumped to his compatriot's defence. "He always put in a 7.5 performance of above, you know that he's always going to do something. That means a lot for the rest of us on the pitch. We just have to pick up on that and feeling like him," Aguero added.

It is clear that Aguero does not feel his friendship with Messi has has any impact on his status as a starter for his country amongst a plethora of attacking options.