Kieran Trippier tells a story of how Diego Simeone, his former boss at Atletico Madrid, instructed his troops on how best to prepare for the prospect of facing Lionel Messi.
How do you stop the greatest player of all time? What tactics, plans or shapes? Trippier said Simeone gave his answer before the team meetings even began: ‘Pray.’
Carlo Ancelotti had a different approach. ‘If you want to prepare well for a game against Messi, you have to avoid speaking about Messi,’ he said. ‘If you speak to your players about the skills of Messi, they will be afraid.’
Messi is 39 now, yet perhaps that rule still applies. The little maestro has scored eight goals at this World Cup, more even than he managed in almost single-handedly dragging Argentina to glory in Qatar, and somehow Thomas Tuchel and England must find some answers of their own if they are to reach a first final since 1966.
What’s most remarkable is teams are failing to stop a player who barely sprints, hardly even runs, and so often stands still.
Messi’s average speed of 2.8mph at the World Cup is bettered by 579 other players. According to Opta, of the 46 forwards to play more than 200 minutes, Messi’s 2.7 sprints per 90 puts him dead last by a considerable margin.
Lionel Messi has scored eight goals in the USA this summer, more than he’s managed at any other World Cup, and he’s knocking on 40
Messi’s average speed of 2.8mph at the World Cup is bettered by 579 other players
His team has reached the semi-finals, twice via extra-time, yet the 28.7 miles he’s covered along the way is bettered by 84 other players. Harry Kane, by contrast, has run more than 42 miles.
And yet, still, no one can touch him. It’s as if he’s a ghost.
Thankfully, for Tuchel at least, the key to stopping Messi these days is not about stopping Messi. It’s about stopping the rest of the Argentina team from creating the space for Messi to thrive. You can, almost, fulfil Ancelotti’s wish: talk about everybody else instead.
Because gone are the days when Messi’s team-mates could just pass to him and stand back while he dribbled past eight players. He’s nearly 40. So the entire team works to a single gameplan – get Messi on the ball unmarked in dangerous areas. The system works separately from Messi, who is unshackled and free to wander and influence.
Against Switzerland in the quarter-final, Messi touched the ball more than 100 times across nearly every blade of grass of the opposition half – even taking a few inside his own.
Messi’s touch map against Switzerland shows how he likes to get on the ball all around the pitch
One of the main ways boss Lionel Scaloni engineers space for Messi is through dummy runs from his midfielders.
Scaloni packs his side with incisive central midfielders like Enzo Fernandez, Alexis Mac Allister, Rodrigo De Paul and Leandro Paredes to help build up in a narrow 4-1-3-2 formation in which Messi, nominally, is one of the strikers. As you can see from the touch map above, he rarely stays there.
Argentina’s Plan A is to pack the middle corridor of the pitch and trust their passers to play cutting balls through the crowd – where opponents are so busy trying to account for all the blue-and-white shirts – to find Messi between the lines. It’s what they did for his opening goal against Algeria.
Argentina play a pass through a crowded midfield into the feet of Messi for his opening goal against Algeria
It’s a high-risk approach. Elliot Anderson or Declan Rice, if fit, know that if they cut out the pass, they can spring an attack. They will back themselves to do so. However, Argentina know they also have enough bodies around the ball to snuff counters out quickly.
That’s why Scaloni also calls for the dummies. His midfielders make diagonal runs out wide to draw their men away from the congestion to free up, you guessed it, Messi.
Early in their victory over Austria, De Paul receives the ball in his own half, a packed midfield in front of him. He plays it backwards before busting a gut to get to the touchline.
Argentina midfielder Rodrigo De Paul pops the ball off backwards and then sets off for the touchline to create space
The next time he receives it, he’s got chalk on his boots, a defender drawn over to him and the path to Messi is clear.
De Paul has the ball out wide but has attracted an Austrian defender leaving Messi (circled) in a one-on-one situation
Panicked, the Austria bodies swarm around Messi, leaving his team-mates unmarked and free for the little man to find. He does just that, of course, and Argentina win a penalty (that Messi misses).
A swarm of Austrian defenders have been drawn to Messi who pops the ball off to a team-mate in space. Argentina go on to win a penalty from the move
Argentina play the same trick against Algeria. De Paul, again, collects the ball inside his own half.
This time, Julian Alvarez makes the run, towing his defender along for the ride while Messi shimmies the other way. In the blink of an eye, Messi has the ball in space.
Julian Alvarez makes a run towards the touchline, taking an Algerian defender with him, leaving Messi free to collect the ball in the centre circle
Algeria are in all sorts of trouble now. Runners either side of the defensive shape drag them out of position, torn between closing Messi down or following the cavalry.
They choose the latter and make the mistake so many teams do: they forget about Messi who releases the ball to Nico Gonzalez (No 15 on the left of the attack).
Algeria backpedal as Messi travels with the ball and Argentina runners pull them out of shape, allowing Messi to pass to Nico Gonzalez (No 15, on the left of the attack)
Desperately trying to recover, they leave Messi (circled) who gets it back and completes his hat-trick.
Messi collects the return pass from Gonzalez and completes his hat-trick
The problem is that, for as slowly as Messi walks, the rest happens so quickly. Argentina average the most passes per attack of any nation at the World Cup and take the longest over them. But when the opening appears, they shift gears in a flash.
Defenders must be decisive but Argentina’s plan plants enough doubt that makes split-second decisions nearly impossible.
Take this moment against Switzerland (below). Fernandez has the ball and Messi drifts deeper while the Swiss camp in their box. Zeki Amdouni, No 23, considers stepping out but knows Gonzalez, over his shoulder, would be left completely unmarked for a ball to the back post.
So, he stays where he is, Messi gets the ball, drops the shoulder, turns his man and rifles a shot just wide.
Messi drops into space, giving the Swiss players difficult decisions to make
And he can still run in behind as well as come short. At nearly 40, he can’t make darting runs all the time but he still has the nose for when to make one.
He did so for his opener against Cape Verde, latching on to a long ball over the top and almost did it again late on against Switzerland.
Messi shows that he can still dart in behind defenders with his opener against Cape Verde
He almost repeats the trick against Switzerland in the quarter-final
England have to find a way to combat it all. Make sure to cut off those thread-needle passes through the middle.
Don’t be fooled by the decoys and always have a man keeping track of Messi. Whatever you do, do not take your eye off him for a second. But don’t all try to surround him either because, as Austria found out, it leaves too many others open.
This is, of course, much easier said than done. So, what’s the gameplan? Should Tuchel get someone to man-mark Messi? Djed Spence, perhaps? Follow him wherever he goes?
Argentina’s players give Messi a lift after victory over Egypt – but they have not been carrying him during the World Cup
That’s the trap Messi wants you to fall into. The more he’s marked, the deeper he drops, the more he wanders. If Spence, or even Anderson, trots after him like a dog on a lead, suddenly there’s a huge gap for someone else to fill and for Lautaro Martinez or Alvarez to exploit. Not to mention the man-marker has to sustain that concentration and discipline for 90 minutes, even 120.
Egypt and Cape Verde provided the best examples of how to do it. Egypt passed him around between zones, while Cape Verde basically ignored him completely until he strolled into a dangerous zone. They both kept their compact shape, didn’t allow Argentina to play through them.
In short: defend the space, not the man, and never let your shape break. Against Cape Verde, he scored early but then didn’t create a chance from open play until the 88th minute.
But even that, sadly, is not foolproof. Egypt defended him so well that Messi, by the end, was pushed wide. From there, however, he set up the first goal with a cross in the 79th minute and then scored the equaliser after another ball in from the right. Against Cape Verde, Argentina scored from two of his outswinging corners.
Not to worry, Big Dan Burn will be on the pitch by that stage to head them all clear. The answer to all England’s prayers.
