Former Uruguay striker Sebastian Abreu has urged Oscar Tabarez's side to draw inspiration from how they stopped Diego Maradona at the 1986 World Cup to keep Argentina superstar Lionel Messi at bay on Friday.
Uruguay will lock horns with Argentina in their 13th World Cup qualifier group stage game on Friday. Lionel Scaloni's side will be looking to keep their unbeaten run in the competition intact. Meanwhile, Oscar Tabarez and co. will be keen to bounce back from their three-game winless run.
Argentina registered a 3-0 victory over Uruguay when the two sides clashed last month. PSG star Messi opened the scoring for the Copa America champions before Rodrigo de Paul and Lautaro Martinez added to their tally.
As Uruguay gear up to face Argentina again, they will be concerned about stopping Messi. And former La Celeste star Abreu has suggested a way to keep the 34-year-old at bay on the night.
Abreu has urged Uruguay to draw inspiration from how they kept Maradona at bay in round 16 of the 1986 World Cup to stop Messi on Friday. The 45-year-old also insisted that Argentina were heavily dependent on the forward before Scaloni took charge. He told ESPN Argentina:
“You have to treat him like Diego in ’86. Before Scaloni, Argentina was only Messi: controlling him, you neutralized the game. Today there is a collective operation that strengthens individualities.”
Uruguay suffered a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Argentina at the 1986 World Cup. However, they managed to keep Maradona silent for large parts of the game. La Celeste marked the Napoli legend tightly and made sure he did not get the time or space to weave his magic.
Abreu wants Uruguay to do the same against Messi on Friday.
Lionel Messi expected to feature against Uruguay despite being injured at PSG
Lionel Messi missed Paris Saint-Germain's last two games due to an injury. However, the forward is expected to feature for Argentina against Uruguay on Friday, having trained with the team this week.
Nandha77
195
Only Way to Stop Messi ! Pause the Video While Watching Messi's Video..😏
Josua_TE
120
Messi at 34, still teams plans to stop him unlike others...that's the best player in the world
CentFrank
73
He will be thinking if messi is really a human...[🐐🐐🐐]
Beautifulboy
60
The only way to stop Messi.
jaysinjude
14
the only way to stop him is by doing this
Nuaimnotyz
13
so has Ronaldo has scored and Messi always has a better team
another joke.. madrid fans always argue..modric and krooz better than xavi ans inniesta... ramos better than puque. marcelo better than alba... benzema better than suarez... blah blah blah... 😂😂😂 but when talking about messi they say messi always has a better team 🤣🤣 messi carried a broken barca last 4 years and won trophies, golden boot, ballon do'r.. laurdes sportsperson of the year, iffhs playmaker award... numerous times... its not messi's team better.. its messi making them better.
Josua_TE
9
and who stopped Ronaldo before ?
Liverpool and Man city