Messi & Co gear up for Russia with Italy test Neymar-less Brazil brace for Russia
INTERNATIONAL FRIENDLIES Argentina will be looking for a victory against the Italians ahead of their clash with Spain
MANCHESTER: Lionel Messi begins his road to World Cup redemption on Friday as Argentina take on Italy in a glamour friendly, desperate to win a major international prize to crown his glorious career.
In Barcelona’s colours, Messi has experienced nothing but success, winning eight La Liga titles and four Champions League crowns, while earning FIFA’S Ballon d’or award five times. But pulling on Argentina’s blue-andwhite striped shirt has brought the forward some of the most painful moments of his career.
Rarely able to hit the same heights with Argentina that he routinely scales with Barcelona, Messi has endured stinging criticism from albiceleste fans at times. Rubbing salt into those wounds, Messi has lost in three successive major finals with Argentina as the 2014 World Cup and the 2015 and 2016 Copa America titles slipped from his grasp.
“I cried many times because of games like these, for lost finals, for what they mean and for not being able to achieve the dream of a country. It was a hard blow to take,” Messi recently told Argentine programme La Cornisa.
Messi will be approaching the twilight of his career by the time the 2022 edition kicks off in Qatar. He will have also noted that teammates Sergio Aguero, Gonzalo Higuain, Angel Di Maria, Nicolas Otamendi and Javier Mascherano will all be 30 or over this year.
“Obviously, we depend on results and therefore the thinking in this group is that having got to three finals and not being able to win and even then people say a lot of things about us, if we are not champions then we won’t have another one (opportunity),” Messi said.
But first up is an intriguing test against an Italy side that failed to qualify for the World Cup.
“Each match and training session is fundamental for us in preparation for the World Cup. Playing against Italy, in a venue as important as Etihad Stadium, is an invitation to a great event,”argentina boss Jorge Sampaoli said with his team playing a second friendly in Spain next week. MOSCOW: Training between mounds of snow without Neymar, Brazil may be forgiven for feeling out of their element as they prepare to face hosts Russia in their penultimate World Cup warmup.
The most expensive football player on the planet is back home, celebrating his sister’s birthday with his famous right foot recovering from surgery in a protective boot. But things are deadly serious in Moscow, where the Selecao play on Friday at the Luzhniki Stadium in which they will hope to lift a record sixth World Cup trophy on July 15.
Coach Tite will try to make sure his superstars have learned from the unmitigated disaster of their 7-1 drubbing by Germany, whom Brazil play on Tuesday, on home soil back in 2014. That fateful World Cup semifinal four years ago was played without the injured Neymar or suspended centre-back Thiago Silva.
Now, as then, Brazil are look- ing vulnerable in defence and missing their 26-year-old hero.
Paris Saint-germain forward Neymar “is a different player. He is one of the top three in the world,” said Tite. “But a strong team should not depend on specific names.”
Without Neymar, Tite is entrusting the left wing to Juventus’s in-form Douglas Costa.
The 27-year-old is in the prime of his career after spending much of it tucked away in Ukraine playing for Shakhtar Donetsk.
Costa has only found the net three times in 22 appearances in a yellow jersey but this is his time to shine, and he does not seem phased by the occasion.
“Replacing Neymar is an enormous challenge, but we have a lot of class acts on the team who have big potential,” said Costa. “Neymar’s absence gives the other players a chance to show themselves, to show their best side.”
Costa will be paired up front with Chelsea’s graceful winger Willian and Gabriel Jesus, who has scored 11 times for Manchester City this season.