On Tuesday evening Croatia face Argentina looking to earn a place in the World Cup final once again. The Vatreni made it to the finale of the global competition in 2018 against France and will hope to move one step further if they can make it past Lionel Messi and co.
The Argentinian icon will present quite the obstacle to Croatian progression. The 35-year-old Paris Saint-Germain star has been central to the South American side's play and is second in the race for the Golden Ball behind Kylian Mbappe having already provided four goals and two assists in Qatar.
Stifling the talents of Messi is not a task that Mateo Kovacic is unfamiliar with. The Chelsea star has seen the former Barcelona ace as an adversary in both domestic and international competition over the last fives years to both success and failure.
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Kovacic is one of few players who have been entrusted with a man-marking job on the eight-time Ballon d'Or winner - a difficult task. Having been entrusted with the role in the Spanish Super Cup in 2017 and earned some success, Zinedine Zidane brought Kovacic into his starting XI in La Liga to fulfil the same duty.
El Clasico in the following December saw the Croatian heavily criticised for not tracking the run of compatriot Ivan Rakitic in the build up to the sole goal as Real Madrid fell to defeat. Kovacic instead was focused on Messi, under the instruction of Zidane to 'follow Messi all around the pitch'.
It may be the pair's meeting in the 2018 World Cup that will prove more informative for Croatia, however. Speaking ahead of that game, Kovacic was under no illusion of Messi's quality, but aware of his nation's ability too.
Chelsea's midfielder said ahead of the occasion: Argentina depends a lot on Messi, although they are a great team and one must be careful about other positions. You cannot just prepare for one player [to mark Messi] … it is [better to deal with him] collectively: one on one is quite difficult. The coaching staff will prepare tactics well for him. We do not need to be too afraid of Argentina, we are individually better than them, except Messi, and so we have… to look at ourselves, not others."
That group game in 2018 saw Croatia come away 3-0 victors with goals from Ante Rebic, Luka Modric and Rakitic. Crucially the European side managed to prevent Messi from having a shot until more than an hour into the game.
Argentina came into this tournament a different proposition. Lionel Scaloni's side were hoping to equal the all-time international record of 36 consecutive matches unbeaten before the shock defeat to Saudi Arabia in their opening match of the tournament. The South Americans obviously rebounded and now find themselves in the tournament's semi-final.
The Croatian plan appears reminiscent of their 2018 approach, however. Striker Bruno Petkovic, who netted the crucial equaliser against Brazil in the quarter-final of the tournament, spoke to the media ahead of the clash in a way that echoed Kovacic's words from four years earlier.
He said: "We don’t have a specific plan yet for stopping Messi and usually we don’t concentrate on stopping one player but the entire team. We will try to stop them as a team and not with man-marking. Argentina are not only Messi, they have a number of great players. We have to stop the entire Argentina team."
What cannot be ignored is Messi's influence on the side, both as a leader and goal contributor. The former Barcelona star has been handed a free role to wander the pitch, to engage with the ball in key moments and areas as he pleases. He may be ageing but the tactic has proved impactful thus far.
As he ghosts around the pitch looking to take advantage of pockets of space, it will be Kovacic who has a key responsibility alongside his teammates. Defender Josip Jurnovic highlighted the quality of his side's midfield.
"I think Mateo (Kovacic), Luka (Modric) and Marcelo (Brozovic) are the best Croatian midfield in history," he added.
"When you pass them the ball it’s safer than having your money in the bank. Everything gets real easy when you play with them."
It is something coach Zlatko Dalic is very aware of that fact but also noted how his side 'paralysed' Neymar. He will hope that their approach will do the same to Messi.
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