Three key ways England can stop Lionel Messi in World Cup semi-final showdown | OneFootball

Three Lions have never faced the iconic eight-time Ballon d’Or winner before

Lionel Messi faces England for the first time as Argentina meet their rivals in the World Cup 2026 semi-finals tonight.

The greatest footballer in history will finally come up against the Three Lions, on the occasion of his 206th senior international cap.

Messi has scored 125 goals for his country, is leading the race for a first World Cup Golden Boot and has proven extraordinarily difficult to nullify throughout his career.

Yet England must find a way if they are to reach their first World Cup final since winning the tournament in 1966 on home soil.

Here, Standard Sport assesses three ways England can stop Messi (or at least try to)…

Cut off the supply lines

The only way in which Messi can cause problems and hurt England is if the 39-year-old is given the ball. That’s pretty obvious.

Thomas Tuchel and his coaching staff have been speaking with their players in the lead-up to the game about how they can cut off the channels that deliver the ball to Messi, denying the Argentine midfielders and full-backs the space necessary to feed him.

Argentina are always keen to find Messi, even during build-up play when they are nowhere near the goal. England’s midfielders need to stay alert to Messi’s whereabouts at all times and be careful with their pressure and pressing in order to close off the supply lines.

Golden Boot leader: Lionel Messi has scored eight goals and registered two assists at this World Cup

PA

As remarkable as Messi is, he is less effective from tight angles, and England must use this to their advantage against a player who has walked 47 per cent of the distance he has covered at this World Cup - the highest percentage of any outfield player.

The English full-backs, centre-backs and midfielders can shepherd him onto the outside, denying him the ability to make a jinking run into the centre and take up the area of the pitch in and around the D where he has most thrived for two decades.

The Three Lions would have had real difficulty summoning the energy and stamina to press Messi and force him wide in such a way in the sweltering heat of Miami if they had been given the same task there, but in the air-conditioned Atlanta Stadium, it should be more possible.

Messi is as deadly from set-pieces as he is from open play, and in meeting Argentina, England are now preparing to face by far the best free-kick taker they have come up against at this World Cup.

The eight-time Ballon d’Or winner displayed his talents when he came on as a substitute against Jordan in their final group game and converted a direct free-kick to wrap up the points for Argentina.

Icon: Messi is hoping to fire Argentina to back-to-back World Cup wins after his heroics in Qatar

PA

Though it was a free-kick very much helped by a sizeable gap in the Jordan wall and poor positioning by their goalkeeper, Messi has scored enough sensational free-kicks in his glittering career for England’s coaching staff to be well aware of the threat he still poses from dead-ball situations.

His precision in finding the corner if there is one left unguarded remains undimmed.

It is incumbent on Declan Rice, Jude Bellingham, Elliot Anderson and others in and around England’s own defensive third of the pitch not to concede needless fouls. Because if there is a free-kick to Argentina within striking distance, Messi will relish it.