FC Barcelona

Real Madrid

Spain

World Football

Results

Opinion

Croatia coach Dalic: This is how you stop Lionel Messi

The manager of the World Cup finalists explained the victory over the Argentines in Russia

Messi, capitán de la selección de Argentina / | sport
sport.es

Zlatko Dalic, Croatia coach, had an important role in his team’s win over Argentina at the World Cup. He explained to Goal.com how to stop Lionel Messi.

“For me, Leo Messi is the best player in the world and it showing it week after week,” said Dalic. “It’s harder for Messi with Argentina than Barcelona and for that we tried to explain what we considered small weaknesses in the Argentine team,” said the Bosnian.

“The key was to be disciplined and follow our tactical plan and the players did just that. We tried to avoid the ball getting to Messi and we stopped it quickly in the areas where he likes to get the ball.

 

“Despite the fact Messi is a great player, the best, football is a team sport ad if one team is doing better than the other it’s hard for one individual to change everything. Croatia were a better team than Argentina in that game,” said the coach.