France Coach, Didier Deschamps has revealed
how his team stopped Lionel Messi in the World
Cup last 16.
France defeated Argentina 4-3 yesterday in an
exciting match and progressed to the quarter-
finals where they would face Uruguay.
It was a match where Messi could barely get on
the ball but still provided two assists.
Kylian Mbappe proved too much with the 19-
year-old scoring twice and also wining his team a
penalty.
And Didier Deschamps has praised his team for
closing out Messi and securing victory.
“I think my Argentinian counterpart wanted to
give him more freedom to come behind our
central midfielders, but we adapted to neutralise
him,” Deschamps said.
“[N’Golo] Kante was always marking him.
“We had two chances; stopping him getting on
the ball, which we did a lot, and when he had it
we had to have one on him and one just off him.
“He was subject to a unique vigilance. We knew
the connection between [Javier] Mascherano,
[Ever] Banega and Messi, if you want Messi to
have less influence you have to block the other
two.”
The 31-year-old could yet have played his last
World Cup.