ATLANTA — It’s England vs. Argentina in the World Cup semifinals. It’s also Lionel Messi vs. Jude Bellingham.
The battle of the two No. 10s could be pivotal to deciding Wednesday’s match in Atlanta.
“We know how good Messi is,” England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford said of the Argentina great, whose enduring brilliance has been on show again even at the age of 39.
Messi and Bellingham have been inspirational in their teams’ respective runs to the final four. And Wednesday’s match may well be determined by which one has the biggest say on the day.
Messi is playing England for the first time in his storied career.
“He’s scored so many goals and contributed to so many goals as well throughout his career, it’s great to finally go up against him,” Pickford said.
Messi is already considered by many to be the greatest soccer player of all time and he seems to be on a mission to settle the debate about where he stands in the history of the sport.
Already the all-time top scorer in the World Cup with 21 goals, he could surpass Argentina icon Diego Maradona by leading his country to back-to-back world titles.
His eight goals in the tournament so far have been pivotal to Argentina’s run and his moments of magic have dragged his team through big scares against Cape Verde and Egypt.
“It’s just incredible his campaign, this tournament, how he carries that team it’s just, absolutely incredible,” England coach Thomas Tuchel said of Messi. “There are no words … left for this kind of achievement, the responsibility and the quality that he shows again in this tournament.”
Argentina’s World Cup triumph in 2022 saw Messi emulate Maradona by captaining his country to the title. Maradona lifted the trophy in 1986 and was runner-up with Argentina four years later when it lost to West Germany in the final.
“Trying to draw inspiration from what Diego did is difficult. Only Leo can do that,” said Argentina midfielder Alexis Mac Allister. “Diego is a national icon for us, and hopefully, we can achieve something similar to what that team did.”
