Lionel Messi coy on Argentina future but says he has learnt from 2014 World Cup heartache
The 30-year-old knows this could be his last chance of winning the World Cup after finishing as a runner-up in 2014
LIONEL MESSI won’t have one giant Viking shadow hanging over him today.
He’ll have TEN.
A whole team of man-markers, sharing the burden of stopping the world’s greatest player from weaving his magic.
That’s the level of threat this little genius offers wherever he goes.
But that’s also the scale of the pressure he’s under as the hopes and prayers of 44 million back home weigh heavy on his shoulders.
Four years ago, Messi couldn’t quite get Argentina over the line against Germany - and he admits that if they fall short again here, his team as the nation’s talisman could be up.
Quite simply, the guy can’t afford to Mess it up.
On the eve of their opener against the flint-hard fighting machine from Iceland, coach Jorge Sampaoli confessed everything he does is organised around his No10.
He said: “As a coach, when you have a player like Leo on the pitch, you have to make things work so he can play at his best.
“I personally don’t think he should be under so much pressure, because he makes so many people happy. But I understand that, with 40 million and more supporting us and pushing us, that pressure is there.
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“Guys like me know how to organise a team, but the players make things happen - and with someone available like Messi, you would be crazy not to take advantage of his amazing skills.
“As a team, we always have to consider Leo, to know when he’s going to do what on the pitch. We have spent a lot of time on that and as the tournament goes on we will see them team understand more how he plays.
“Messi is very fit, very well prepared and really looking forward to trying to achieve history.
“Also I don’t think it should be his last World Cup. He is a genius and he should decide when he goes, not anyone else.
“We’re really looking forward to seeing him and Paolo Dybala playing together. They’ve been great in training and we hope it’ll be the same on matchday.”
Messi - who has already done one U-turn on retiring from international football - said: “Is it my last World Cup? I suppose it depends on this month.
“How we finish here will dictate things. All I can say now is that I am looking forward to getting going.
“We’ve learned from four years ago, we’ve learned that the mentality has to be that we go game by game.
“We deserved to win that final. To come so close was difficult to take.
“But we’ve prepared well and we’ll battle in every game.”
One thing’s for sure. They’ll rarely have to battle much harder than they will in Spartak Stadium this afternoon against Heimar Haallgrimsson and and Icelandic wonders.
After beating England to reach the last eight of Euro 16, they won their qualifying group to reach the World Cup for the first time - and become, with a population under 350,000, the smallest country ever to take part.
And they can’t wait for the chance to get at Messi today.
Hallgrimsson, a dentist in his day job, shrugged: “Every coach, every player, every club has tried to stop him and he always, always seems to score.
“That’s why it would be wrong of me to put the responsibility of looking after him on just one player. That wouldn’t be fair.
“There is no magic formula. All we can do is work together, all as a team, to do our best again him.”