Messi’s World Cup Glory Threatened

By Daily Sports Nigeria on December 9, 2022

Orange Boys captain, Virgil Van Dijk says that Holland have to conjure up a plan to stop Lionel Messi from “chilling” on Friday.

The Dutch are preparing to face Argentina in the World Cup quarter-final in two days’ time.

The Liverpool star will come face-to-face with the legendary forward as the two nations battle it out for a semi-final place.

Messi, 35, has already scored three goals at the tournament and is looking to finally get his hands on the World Cup – the one prize that has eluded him in his epic career.

Van Dijk spoke to the media on Wednesday ahead of the showdown about the threat of the Paris Saint-Germain attacker.

And he knows full well that Messi is capable of looking like he is doing very little before bursting into lift and drifting into spaces to punish the opposition.

The 31-year-old defender said: “The difficult thing about him is when we are attacking, he is chilling somewhere in a corner or something.

“You have to be so very sharp in terms of defensive organisation.

“They always looked for him to try to make it difficult for us on the counter.”

Van Dijk added: “It is an honour to play against him.

“It is not me against him, or the Netherlands against him, but the Netherlands against Argentina.

“No one can do it on his own, we will have to come up with a good plan.”

Van Dijk and Messi have come up against each other previously, the most-notable being in the 2019 Champions League semi-final.

Messi scored twice to put Barcelona into a 3-0 first-leg lead but Liverpool famously came back to win the second-leg 4-0.

Source Sporting Sun

Posted December 9, 2022


 

You may also like...
Atletico splash $370m on new stadium

Forest consider legal action against Spurs over Gibbs-White...

SWAN Lagos Chapter and United Nations Partner to...

Ighalo Shortlisted For A Place In FA Cup...

Dogo charges Nasarawa United to surprise Enyimba

Nigeria youngster Usman Saleh nets first league goal...

 

Latest News Itauma battles Whyte in Riyadh D’Tigers thrash defending champions Tunisia Nnadozie gets hero’s welcome at Brighton AFN releases contingent for CAA Senior Athletics Championships Abuja to host Basketball All-Star weekend Nezianya, NOC PRO Joins Prestigious Agbalanze Society Of Onitsha D’Tigress makes history as only African team in FIBA top 10 New NPFL season to end May 2026 Joshua eyes first African bout in Ghana Tinubu’s $100k reward for five AfroBasket titles, says Kida AfroBasket: D’Tigers face tricky Tunisia test … Eagles coach defends 4-0 defeat

 

Most Read Rangers International going, going . . . (55,664 views) Amaju Pinnick: A cat with nine lives (46,836 views) Second Term: Amaju Pinnick, Other NFF Heavyweights Home to Roost •How Pinnick Broke the Jinx (44,834 views) Current issues in Nigerian sports: Matters arising (44,417 views) Missing $150,000 IAAF Grant: Solomon Dalung’s Hide and Seek game (44,411 views) Sports Development: Zenith Bank on the zenith (44,404 views) Gov. Abdullahi Ganduje’s solid footprints, commitment to sports development in Kano State (44,220 views) NFF Presidency: Pinnick, Maigari, Ogunjobi, Okoye in Battle for Supremacy (43,772 views) Olopade, BET9A wave of revolution in NNL (42,875 views) Commonwealth Games 2018: Shame of Muhammadu Buhari, Solomon Dalung (41,487 views) Ibrahimovic’s Man U exit: Whose decision is it? And in whose interest? (39,917 views) John Mikel Obi: Segun Odegbami’s Outrageous Call! (39,349 views)

 

Phone numbers

Tel: +234(0)8066020976
+234(0)8055068145
+234(0)7013416146
+234(0)8094272884

Email addresses

info@dailysportsng.com
support@dailysportsng.com
publisher@dailysportsng.com

Office address

No 3, Adetoun Close, Off College Road, Ogba, Ikeja Lagos.
Website: www.dailysportsng.com

Social Media