Nicolás Tagliafico: “Lionel Messi is our leader, he drives us, motivates us, gives us a plus”

Nicolas Tagliaficoleft side of the Argentine national teamis emerging as one of the novelties of the starting eleven in the World Cup semifinal Qatar 2022 against Croatia, which he looks at among the praises for Lionel Messithe “leader” of the team, who “promotes, motivates and gives a plus” to his teammates, and the warnings about his opponent, of which he highlighted the footballers “with a very good foot” in the midfield.

“Messi It was always like this. He is our captain, our leader, the one who drives us, the one who motivates us, the one who gives you a plus. When you are on the field we know we have it and that motivates us and helps us to know that we can do a little more”, said the footballer in the ‘virtual stadium’ room of the National Convention Center of Qatar to great expectation from the media.

“The feelings are very positive. We are very happy to have achieved the first goal of being in the top four, but we still have one goal to meet. We are prepared, we are working hard to be able to fulfill it. Very happy, but thinking about what’s to come”, assured the winger, who has been “seeing a little Croatia”, his rival in the semifinals this Tuesday at the Lusail stadium.

“We know that they have high-quality players, players in midfield with a good footing, with a good stature as well. They can play inside, but they have the ability to cross and reach people. It will be a very hard match. We are going to have to be in the details, but we also have our weapons and we are going to try to hurt them, ”he announced.

“We are another team”

Croatia thrashed Argentina in their last precedent: 0-3 on the second day of the group stage of the World Cup. Russia 2018. “Although four years have passed, we see that Croatia continues in the final instances. That means he did a very good job. It is a very well-formed team, there are a few similarities, but there are different players and characteristics. We are another team, too. I think it will be totally different from what happened four years ago. The game will be otherwise. We have experience from this game and we have to try to take advantage of it”, reviewed the player, who was present at that meeting four years ago.

“We focus on ourselves, on the players we have, on our strengths. We know the quality of the players of Croatia, we are going to put together a game plan to counteract them (the journalist was referring to Modric in the question) and the important thing is to think of ourselves. We know that we are in a semifinal, we have to think about what we can do to hurt them and only think about Argentina”, he abounded.

Argentina manage multiple systems. “It is a virtue of the team to be able to capture the different ways of playing on the pitch. Many times we talk about four, three, five… The moment of the match gives you that, the movement of the players and it is a virtue of this selection, with the same players, with the same interpreters, you can change the way of playing and positioning. It is a very good thing, ”he stressed.

“They can play in different ways. From what we saw, Croatia is not of that style (hopefully behind its rival). They have very good players in the middle and perhaps it seems at some point that they are withdrawing, but at other times they will try to take the ball and control of the game from us. With Australia, the game was different. We have to be prepared for all the possibilities”, continued the left back.

“We know how to suffer”

Both with Australia, in the round of 16, and Netherlandswho finally tied it in the 98th minute in the quarterfinals, Argentina He suffered in the last moments, when he had obtained advantages of two goals previously. “It is difficult to explain. It usually happens in the games that in the last few minutes if you are at a disadvantage you will go looking for everything, to try to put the ball inside the area, to search in some way with many players inside the area to be able to tie. It is difficult to work it. The selections are different. We know what can happen if we are ahead in those last minutes. We have to suffer ”, he affirmed.

“And we know how to suffer. We already saw it in these games. You have to be prepared and find some way so that, if it happens, they don’t generate so many opportunities or to be able to counteract that. It’s hard to explain because they are totally different times. We have to focus on winning the game and try to suffer less”, he explained. tagliaficowhich highlighted the “confidence” of the entire team in Emiliano Martínez on penalties.

“We have a lot of confidence in ‘Dibu’, but no one is calm, even though we have a great goalkeeper. Tranquility does not exist on penalties. They can be worked on, but on a playing field, with so many people and emotions, it’s not the same, ”he pointed out.

– Look at the Qatar 2022 World Cup calendar

– The results calculator for the World Cup semifinals