Aguero leads the line again for Argentina v Croatia

NIZHNY NOVGOROD, Russia (Reuters) - Argentina coach Jorge Sampaoli stuck with Sergio Aguero over Gonzalo Higuain to lead the line again in their Group D match against Croatia on Thursday, but dropped winger Angel Di Maria among three changes to his starting eleven.

Aguero had scored in Argentina's opening 1-1 draw with Iceland, when captain Lionel Messi missed a penalty.

Gabriel Mercado, Marcos Acuna and Enzo Perez came into the Argentina side for their debuts in Russia, with Marcos Rojo and Lucas Biglia joining Di Maria on the bench at the Nizhny Novgorod stadium on the banks of the river Volga.

Croatia, who beat Nigeria 2-0 in their first game, kept a settled line-up, with veteran playmaker Luka Modric again captain and Mario Mandzukic leading the attack.

Their only change was to drop striker Andrej Kramaric for midfielder Marcelo Brozovic.

(Reporting by Andrew Cawthorne and Mark Gleeson, editing by Pritha Sarkar)