England sent Lionel Messi warning ahead of Argentina clash: 'Stay focused' | OneFootball

Jordan Pickford knows Little Magician will be tough to stop but Albiceleste boast plenty more threats

Jordan Pickford said England must be wary of getting overawed by Lionel Messi as they face Argentina in the World Cup semi-final on Wednesday.

Messi turned 39 last month but has rolled back the years at this World Cup, scoring eight goals and assisting a further two in just six appearances.

His typically talismanic performances have been vital to Argentina’s campaign. He was on target as they squeezed past Cape Verde in the last-32, and inspired the late comeback against Egypt, where the Albiceleste won inside 90 minutes after trailing 2-0 with just over ten minutes left to play.

The little magician will hope to keep up his red-hot form as he faces England for the first time, with a place in Sunday’s final up for grabs.

Pickford has fallen at this stage of the tournament before, and said England can not afford to spend too much energy worrying about Messi, with the Argentina squad boasting threats across the pitch.

“He’s scored so many goals, contributed to so many goals across his career, it is great to finally come up against him after so long and watching him as a kid,” he said, speaking on Monday from England’s Kansas City training base.

“We all know how good Messi is but we also know how good Argentina is, so we can’t just solely (worry about) Messi. We’ve got to focus on the other strengths as well, and the weaknesses we can take advantage of.”

Argentina have plenty of threats aside from Lionel Messi

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Argentina have a reputation for calling on the dark arts in their football, and Egypt complained they benefitted from the referee’s favouritism in their last-16 meeting.

Pickford was adamant, though, England are smart enough not to get caught out by any trickery.

He continued: “I think you've seen throughout the tournament our desire to win tackles but we haven't gotten into any scuffles or anything.

“We've been very respectful within the game. Decisions go our way, they don't go our way, we just reset, we go again and we let the football do the talking.

“I think that's what we've done throughout the tournament. Apart from Jarell [Quansah’s red card vs Mexico], we've not had any suspensions or second yellow cards or anything like that.

“It just shows the mentality that we have and we don't get wrapped up in sort of things like that. We stay focused and we stay together.”