Argentina superstar Lionel Messi says he is relishing the opportunity to face ‘big team’ England for the first time in his career ahead of the sides’ ‘special’ World Cup semi-final.
The holders had looked to be cruising towards a comfortable victory over Switzerland after Alexis Mac Allister headed home Messi’s tenth-minute corner to open the scoring in Kansas.
Switzerland dug deep and found an equaliser midway through the second half as Dan Ndoye beat Emiliano Martinez from a tight angle, only for Breel Embolo to get sent off for a second bookable offence just five minutes later.
Granit Xhaka and Co clung on to take the absorbing quarter-final contest to extra-time, but it was Argentina who prevailed after the added 30 minutes, with Julian Alvarez and Lautaro Martinez both netting in a dramatic finish.
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The 2022 champions will do battle with England in an intriguing semi-final clash steeped in history, with a Jude Bellingham-inspired Three Lions coming from behind to defeat Norway earlier in the day.
A place in this year’s final against one of Spain or France awaits the victor.
‘The truth is, yes, it is always special to play against the big teams,’ Messi said in his post-match interview with ESPN.
‘It never happened to me against England, it’s the first time, so it’s going to be a special match, a World Cup semi-final.
‘Now we’ll rest and prepare for that. We’ve come from a lot of effort, playing a long game and, well, sometimes is shows.’
Facing the media shortly after Argentina’s win, Lionel Scaloni said his side would be giving ‘every last drop of sweat’ to get a past a ‘very tough’ and reach the final.
‘What this team has achieved is historic, even though we could have played better,’ the Argentina head coach told reporters.
‘It’s historic to be in a semi-final again.
‘It’s a privileged space in football, not an easy feat. We’re happy and excited now.
‘We will try to make it to the end with every last drop of sweat.’
Argentina’s jubilant squad were pictured celebrating with their adoring supporters in the immediate aftermath of their win, with chants of, ‘Anyone who doesn’t jump is an Englishman,’ heard both on the pitch and in the stands.
But despite the age-old rivalry between the two nations, dating back to the Falklands War in 1982, Scaloni insisted Wednesday’s semi-final is simply ‘a football game’ versus a ‘very tough opponent’.
‘The message is this is a football game. That is what I can say,’ he added.
‘We will be playing against a very tough opponent, they have an excellent coach, it is a football game and that is all.’
Scaloni – who steered Argentina to glory in Qatar four years ago – hopes his squad will have learned a ‘big lesson’ from their edgy and ‘very difficult’ quarter-final with Switzerland.
‘It was very difficult for us to win the duels but ultimately we always find the solutions,’ he went on.
‘In the end we made it possible but it was a big lesson for us as we know what we will be facing.’
Jose Lopez provided the assist for Alvarez’s stunning 112th-minute effort after coming on in place of Leandro Paredes just moments earlier.
Facing the media shortly after the final whistle, the Palmeiras forward vowed to ‘leave our lives on the field’ against England and fight ‘until the last second’.
‘Obviously inside and outside the four lines of the pitch it’s a matchup that has a lot of history there, a lot of pain and a lot of things behind it,’ he said.
‘I think we are professionals and we’re going to play it like we play every game: until the last second, leaving our lives on the field.’
England’s eagerly anticipated semi-final clash against Argentina takes place at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Wednesday, 15 July at 20:00 BST.
Remarkably, it will represent the first time that the great Messi will line up in an international fixture against the Three Lions in what will be the forward’s 206th appearance for his country.
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