Lionel Messi will not face Italy in Manchester on Friday, according to multiple reports, while Sergio Aguero has been officially released from the Argentina squad.
Messi is still likely to play on Tuesday against Spain, but the Barcelona star has reportedly been battling some muscle fatigue in his abductors, and Argentina will not risk him at the Etihad Stadium.
Argentina will go with a midfield of Angel Di Maria, Giovani Lo Celso, Lucas Biglia, Manuel Lanzini and Leandro Paredes behind forward Gonzalo Higuain against Italy, who are starting goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon in his return from a brief international retirement.
Aguero will also miss out in Friday's game, and he will not travel to Madrid for Argentina's next friendly either, the country's federation announced.
The Manchester City striker will stay with his club to continue treatment on the knee injury which forced him out of last week's Premier League game at Stoke.
Aguero has spent this week with his Argentina teammates while they have been based at the City Football Academy in Manchester ahead of Friday's friendly.
However the the 29-year-old, who has scored 30 goals in all competitions for City this season, has not played a full part in any training sessions.
A tweet from Seleccion Argentina read: "Sergio Aguero will be released from the group to continue the recovery of his left knee."
Earlier on Friday, a source told ESPN FC that Messi and Argentina would be training at the Valdebebas training ground of Barcelona's arch-rivals Real Madrid from Saturday until Tuesday.
Source: espn.co.uk