Argentina resume their World Cup qualifying campaign, and are in dire need of a win in order to stand a chance of booking their ticket to Russia. The runners-up in Brazil 2014 lost their last game and drew the two matches prior to that, leaving them without a win in three.
Unfortunately for La Albiceleste, their first fixture in the current international break is an away clash with none other than the Selecao. All hope isn’t lost, as star captain Lionel Messi looks to make his return to the national side.
Brazilian midfielder Renato Augusto revealed (as per Goal) their plan for stopping the Barca legend. "I think first you have to reduce the space of all the players, not only Messi, and then when he receives the ball, just block the angles of his passes,” he said.
However, we ask the question: is there any hope of stopping the five-time Ballon d’Or winner?
Why stopping Leo is near impossible
Not that nullifying the Argentine is impossible, but the 29-year-old heads into this fixture in excellent form. 15 goals in 12 games in La Liga and the Champions League; seven goals in his last five starts shows that Messi is not one to take lightly.
Furthermore, La Pulga boasts the most number of goals (51) and assists (32) in 2016. He is yet to taste defeat since coming out of retirement, and will be hoping to rekindle Argentina’s qualification campaign.
Messi: 51 goals in 2016
— #MESSI500 (@MessiStats) November 6, 2016
BARCELONA (44)
28 in La Liga
5 in CdR
10 in UCL
1 in Super Copa
ARGENTINA (7)
2 in WC Qualifiers
5 in Copa América
The Blaugrana legend scores for fun; however, Brazil will face the attacker in one of his favorite months. Having recently scored his 500th goal, he has found the back of the net more often in only March (65) and January (63) than in November (55).
But of course, he is mere human, and thus stoppable
Man City showed last week that stopping Lionel Messi – as well as Suarez and Neymar – is achievable. Although the Argentine scored and exquisite goal, he did little to affect the game afterwards.
Only Uruguay have a better defense than Brazil – joint second with Argentina – in the qualifiers so far. Casemiro may be absent, a huge worry given how the midfielder excellently man-marked Leo in El Clasico, but Tite has other options to explore.
Then there is the fact that the five-time World Cup winners have never lost a home game in the qualifying round. Ending this record will be difficult even for Messi and Co.
The 3-1 loss to Man City was the latest proof that Messi is stoppable
Stopping Leo is not impossible, but it is difficult, as Sevilla found out over the weekend. Brazil's defense will be relieved if La Pulga leaves his scoring boots at home; otherwise, they will be in for a rough night.
Match details, result and original broadcast info
Brazil 3 - 0 Argentina
November 10, 2016 6:45pmEstádio Governador Magalhães Pinto (Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais)This match has ended. Below are the original Live broadcast details for this match.
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