Sergio Aguero has offered some useful advice to friend and former international teammate Lionel Messi that he picked up from his playing days at Manchester City.
Aguero was forced to retire after leaving City for Barcelona for health reasons, also cutting short his Argentina career. As a result, he is at the Qatar World Cup as a fan, as his former international teammates have reached the quarter-final following last-16 victory over Australia on Saturday.
Argentina face the Netherlands in the last eight, setting up City duo Julian Alvarez and Nathan Ake against each other, while Aguero expects talisman and friend Messi to play an influential role in the clash.
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Messi will get his toughest test of the World Cup so far when he comes up against Liverpool defender Virgil Van Dijk, and Aguero leaned on his own experiences of playing against the Dutchman to offer Messi a suggestion of how to approach the quarter final.
He told ESPN Argentina: “He [Van Dijk] is not fast; he has long legs: 10 sprints from me are two from him
“You have to distract him with something else… someone to yell at him from the stands. If I’m there, I’ll start talking to him there.
“He’s big. Once in the Premier League, he said that the most difficult to score was me. He plays with your physique; that is, he is measuring you and you have to find a manoeuvre for him and do it to him so that he eats it because he is not one to go out and push.
"He lets you receive; he waits for you to throw him the long ball and he puts your body in and bye. He plays like that.”
Argentina's clash with the Netherlands means at least one more City player will be heading home next weekend as Alvarez and Ake face each other. Ilkay Gundogan and Kevin De Bruyne have already been knocked out of the World Cup, while only one of Spain and Portugal can make it to the final week of the tournament as they could meet in a potential quarter-final involving five City players.
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