Argentina coach Jorge Sampaoli has defended leaving Inter Milan captain Mauro Icardi out of his World Cup squad.

Sampaoli explained the 23 men he called up 'identify with our style of play as closely as possible'.

“We came to this list after long and meticulous analysis," he said.

“The players I called up identify with our style of play as closely as possible. For example: I chose Ansaldi because he's a full-back who can play on both sides.

“Icardi, Perotti, Papu Gomez and Lautaro Martinez won't come to Russia with us, but they're still good players, who could be in our attack.

“There's also [Dario] Benedetto, for example, who helped us a lot in qualifying but is now injured."