Lionel Messi will lead Argentina, who have dropped Carlos Tevez, in a friendly against Venezuela at the Salt Lake Stadium, India on September 2.

The Manchester City forward has also been ignored for another friendly match, against Nigeria, on September 6 in Bangladesh.

Newly-appointed Argentina coach Alejandro Sabella included mostly players plying their trade in European leagues for the games against Venezuela and Nigeria.

Tevez might have been overlooked but his Manchester City teammate Sergio Aguero has found a place in the 26-member side that also has players like Angel Di Maria and Gonzalo Higuain (both Real Madrid), Javier Mascherano (Barcelona), Martin Demichelis (Mallaga) and Jonas Gutierrez (Newcastle United).

The Squad: Lionel Messi (c), Angel Di Maria, Gonzalo Higuain, Javier Mascherano, Ever Banega, Eduardo Salvio, Martin Demichelis, Federico Fernandez, Ricardo Alvarez, Nicolas Burdisso, Mariano Andujar, Sergio Romero, Ezequiel Garay, Fabian Rinaudo, Nicolas Otamendi, Sergio Aguero, Pablo Zabaleta, Jonas Gutierrez, Javier Pastore, Luis Gonzalez, Lisandro Lopez, Cristian Ansaldi, Nicolas Pareja, Red Marcos Jose Sosa, Stephen Andrada