Virgil van Dijk has sent a warning to his Netherlands teammates about keeping a close eye on Lionel Messi during his side's quarter-final clash with Argentina.
Van Dijk has captained the Oranje to the last eight of this year's World Cup, with Argentina standing in their way as they look to reach the final for the first time in 12 years. Messi will lead La Albiceleste against Van Dijk's side, having been one of the star players of the tournament.
He has almost single-handedly dragged Argentina into the quarter-finals, with goals against Saudi Arabia, Mexico and Australia. That has ensured he has lived up to his superstar status, with the World Cup being one of the only trophies he has not been able to win in his career.
And Van Dijk is under no illusions as to the task he and his teammates will be facing on Friday night. He urged them to stay aware of Messi for all 90 minutes and not let their concentration drop.
"The difficult thing about him is when we are attacking, he is chilling somewhere in a corner or something. You have to be so very sharp in terms of defensive organisation," the Liverpool star said.
"They always looked for him to try to make it difficult for us on the counter. 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.''
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Netherlands boss Louis van Gaal has hinted that he has come up with a plan to help keep Messi quiet. And he insisted that his side's aim is to bring back the World Cup for the first time in the country's history.
"You will see on Friday. I won't tell you. Messi is the most dangerous creative player, he is able to create a lot and score goals himself. But when they lose the ball he doesn't participate much, this gives us chances," Van Gaal said.
"I think we have big chances here. We still have three matches to go. I've been talking about this for a year that we can become world champions."
Messi himself left the Netherlands out of the list of teams who have impressed him the most so far in this World Cup.
"We have seen the entire World Cup. The matches that we can, of course. Brazil is playing very well, except for the defeat they had against Cameroon, they continue to be one of the great favourites.
"Also France. And Spain, despite the manner of their progress (losing against Japan), because they played very well, they are really clear about what he their game is when they have the ball, they control possession for a long time of the game.
"Argentina is a power and is always among the best teams. We knew that before coming here we were one of the candidates because of what we had been doing and we had to prove it on the pitch. Luckily we have been doing it."
