Lionel Messi will “drive” Argentina to World Cup glory in his battle to become the greatest of all time.
That is the view of Argentina defender Nicolás Tagliafico ahead of their semi final with Croatia at the Lusail Stadium. Argentina superstar Messi, 35, is just two games away from lifting the trophy for the first time in his glittering career.
Lyon left back Tagliafico, who is set to start against Croatia, said: “He's our captain, he's our leader, he drives us, he motivates. When we go out on the pitch and know he's with us, it motivates us. We're going to have to suffer - to live it, but also enjoy it.”
Tagliafico insisted that Argentina are being unfairly criticised for their brutal quarter final win over Holland when they were accused of dirty tricks.
“We're not machines, we're humans, and that means things happen in games... they'll probably keep happening. It's two teams going for a dream,” he said.
Tagliafico also insisted that Aston Villa keeper Emiliano Martinez could be the hero again if the semi final goes to penalties. Martinez made two crucial saves in the shoot-out with Holland while Croatia have won their two knock-out games with Japan and Brazil on penalties.
Tagliafico added: “We trust Martinez so much. But you can never be too calm, we know what is at stake. We can always be sure that Martinez is always there to support us.”
Argentina head coach Lionel Scaloni defended his team's behaviour during the fiery quarter-final victory against the Netherlands as Lionel Messi and Co turn their attention to reaching the World Cup final.
Argentina were involved in arguably the game of the tournament so far at that venue in the quarter-finals, where the Dutch roared back to make it 2-2 deep into stoppage time and take the match to extra time.
Scaloni's side eventually triumphed 4-3 on penalties and his players were quick to goad their opponents, with Messi and shoot-out hero Emiliano Martinez publicly taking aim at Netherlands boss Louis van Gaal.
"The previous game was played the way we had to play it from both teams, the Netherlands and Argentina, and that's football," head coach Scaloni said. "In football, sometimes you have to defend, attack and some games, you know, things can happen like the previous game.
"There can be arguments, more challenging times but that's all. That's why there is a referee to make justice. And we need to just put an end to this idea of, you know, thinking Argentina is just that and we usually have that sort of behaviour.
"We lost to Saudi Arabia, we didn't say anything. We won the Copa America in Brazil and we experienced the most sporting behaviour with Messi, (Leonardo) Paredes and Neymar.
"They were all sitting together in that tunnel at that Maracana stadium, so I'm really not convinced of this idea of unsporting behaviour. We need to show our pride and we just played the game the way we had to play it. And then there is a referee in charge of making decisions. Things end in the moment the referee blows the final whistle.
"So, we respect all the teams, the Netherlands, Croatia now and all the opponents we face. That's one of our main characteristics and features of our personality since the first game.
"We need to put an end to this idea of us not being good winners or losers - that's very far from who we actually are as a team, as a squad and as the way we represent this nation."
