Petkovic on Messi shortly after Argentina vs. Croatia: “We will not focus on just one player”

They are not afraid of the ‘albiceleste’ captain. Bruno Petkovic, scorer of Croatia’s equalizing goal that forced penalties against Brazil in the Qatar 2022 quarterfinals, said that he does not believe they are going to prepare a special plan to stop Leo Messi in the semifinal against Argentina.

“We don’t have an individual plan or idea of ​​how to stop Messi, we won’t focus on just one player. I don’t think we’re going to have a special plan for just one person, Argentina has a lot of good players and it’s hard to focus on just one.”argued in a press conference this Sunday.

The Dinamo Zagreb striker indicated that the secret to having survived two consecutive penalty shoot-outs, against Japan in the round of 16 and against Brazil in the quarterfinals, is to remain calm: “Many people know how to take a penalty in an excellent way, but the difference is in the calm, you have to endure under pressure. And there is our doorman, who you can always rely on and who makes your life easier. In those moments you can see the character of the team, and ours has a huge one”.

Petkovic on goalkeeper Livakovic

Questioned by the goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic, teammate at Dinamo Zagreb and one of the great architects of the progression croata, pointed out that “he is a great goalkeeper, a great worker, he analyzes each situation after each game, perhaps too many times”.

“He is very critical of his mistakes, I think he doesn’t even sleep after a few games. He works and tries to constantly improve. We knew how he was in training and now he is showing it to the whole world.”said.