The Netherlands and Argentina meet in the quarter-finals of the World Cup in Qatar on Friday and Louis van Gaal’s men have tried to answer the question “How do you plan to stop Lionel Messi?”.

Lionel Messi at the 2022 World Cup in QatarPhoto: Kieran McManus / Shutterstock Editorial / Profimedia

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Frankie de Jong and Virgil van Dijk on Lionel Messi: “He is unstoppable”

Frenkie de Jong (Messi’s former team-mate at FC Barcelona) said the Argentine cannot be stopped by one player, while Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool) said the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner is a nightmare for any defender .

“Well, I know him, but I don’t know how to stop him. In 15 years it has changed, it cannot be stopped. Usually, this is also important during training. We have to stop him together as a team. We haven’t written to each other and I don’t plan to, we’ll meet on Friday” – Frankie de Jong about Lionel Messi.

“It’s an honor for me to play against him. It’s not about Van Dijk vs. Messi or Holland vs. Messi. It is about the match between the Netherlands and Argentina. No one can stop Messi alone, we will have to find an effective tactical plan.

The tricky thing is that when we attack, he gets loose because of some corner of the pitch or something like that. You have to be very alert on defense. The Argentines always try to let them pass on the counterattack to make it difficult for us” – Virgil van Dyck about Lionel Messi.

Argentina will meet the Netherlands in the quarter-finals of the 2022 World Cup, in a match that will take place on December 9 at 21:00 at the Lusail Stadium.

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