Virgil van Dijk insists Argentina are not a one-man team ahead of World Cup duel with Lionel Messi
- Planet Sport writer
- 6 December 2022
Virgil van Dijk insists Argentina are not a one-man team as he played down his upcoming duel with Lionel Messi in the World Cup quarterfinal clash.
Netherlands skipper Van Dijk will come up against Argentinian superstar Messi when their countries meet in Friday's much-anticipated last 8 meeting.
Messi, 35, has scored three goals at the global tournament in Qatar including the opener in their 2-1 last-16 win over Australia.
But Liverpool defender Van Dijk says there is far more to Argentina than their mercurial frontman.
"It is an honour to play against him," Van Dijk told reporters. "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 has come up against Messi before, notably in 2019 when Liverpool overcame a 3-0 first-leg deficit - in which Messi scored twice - to reach the Champions League final.
"The difficult thing about him is when we are attacking, he is chilling somewhere in a corner or something," added Van Dijk.
"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."
