Virgil van Dijk asserts that Lionel Messi will pose a threat to the Netherlands even when he is “chilling” and that the Dutch must have a “good plan” to deal with Argentina’s great player.
In a match with a long World Cup history, the Dutch and La Albiceleste will renew their hostilities on Friday in Qatar.
The Netherlands fell to Argentina in the 1978 championship game, but Louis van Gaal will get the chance to exact retribution because he was in command when his team lost to Messi and co. on penalties in the semifinals eight years ago.
When Liverpool overcame Barcelona in the 2018–19 Champions League semifinals, Van Dijk faced off against Messi, who has already scored three goals in Qatar, including one in the 2-1 last-16 victory over Australia.
So, naturally, he knows the Paris Saint-Germain star and seven-time Ballon d’Or winner is a player you can never take your eyes off.
“The difficult thing about him is when we are attacking, he is chilling somewhere in a corner or something,” Van Dijk said.
“You have to be so very sharp in terms of defensive organisation. They always looked for him to try to make it difficult for us on the counter.
“It is an honour to play against him. 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.”