Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
WE THINK OF HIM AS LIONEL MESSKI
Poland boss compares Argentine magician to skiing legend Tomba
From CHRIS MCKENNA
THE footballing world may have run out of superlatives to describe Lionel Messi.
And the list of sporting legends he has been compared to must nearly be exhausted by now.
But when he was asked how to stop Argentina’s little magician today, Poland boss Czeslaw Michniewicz found a unique way of conveying just how good
Messi is by likening him to
Italian skiing legend Alberto Tomba (below).
“He behaves like Tomba on the slopes,” said Michniewicz. ‘‘He has this freedom – Tomba passed the poles, and Messi passes his rivals.
“For 18 years, the whole world has been wondering how to stop him, and during this period he has scored nearly 800 goals and over 300 assists.”
Michniewicz’s comparison to the three-time Olympic gold medallist on the slopes must certainly be a new one. But it oddly makes sense.
Every time the slaloming Messi steps foot on the pitch at this World Cup from now on it could be the final time he ever graces this stage.
“I don’t think we’ll ever find the final answer to this question,” added Michniewicz (circle, above).
But if Poland are to progress then they need to somehow contain the Paris Saint-germain superstar.
Messi inspired Argentina to victory against Mexico on Saturday to keep alive his own hopes of winning the World Cup in his final tournament after a shock opening defeat by minnows Saudi Arabia.
Now Lionel Scaloni’s side need a second victory to guarantee they progress to the knockout stage.
But Poland have their own ambitions and in their arsenal they have another superstar of world football as they look to secure the point that will send them into the last 16.
And Michniewicz was not done with sporting comparisons as he spoke at yesterday’s pre-match media conference.
He had no interest in billing this as some sort of shoot-out between former Barcelona icon Messi and the Catalan giants’ current main man Robert Lewandowski.
“When the group was drawn, the duel between Robert and Lionel Messi was a game the whole world has been waiting for,” said the Polish boss.
“I treat it with a cool head. It’s between Poland and Argentina, not Messi and Lewandowski.
“It’s not only a match between Lewandowski and Messi, it’s not tennis, it’s not one on one. They can’t win individually even if we do have them as players who can make a difference.
“They need to have their teams around them to make that difference.”
But the actual player Lewandowski will be squaring up to is Manchester United defender Lisandro Martinez.
The 5ft 9in centre-back taking on the 6ft striker would be seen as a mismatch if there was a boxing-style tale of the tape.
But after overcoming early horrors at Old Trafford, Martinez has shown size does not in fact matter for central defenders.
He said: “We have to be very well organised. We know that Lewandowski makes goalscoring chances and we have to make it difficult for him.”