Messi inspires with half time team talk in Nigeria win

Lionel Messi’s half-time team talk will have inspired Argentina to a dramatic comeback against Nigeria, according to former England and Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand.

Argentina were leading 1-0 at half-time and heading into the last-16, before a Victor Moses penalty in the second half drew Nigeria level. If the game had stayed at 1-1 Argentina and Messi would be have been dumped out of the World Cup, and the South Americans needed a massive performance to stay in the competition.

Messi had calmed Argentine nerves with a first half strike but Argentina did not quite capitalize on their good start. Gonzalo Higuaín had missed a 1 v 1 with the goalkeeper and Angel Di Maria was set through on goal but did not quite escape from the defender and was fouled just outside the box. Argentina laxed after a while. Messi is not one who is known for making speeches. The introverted Messi is a quiet character who leads by example on the pitch but yesterday he was seen giving out instructions to his team in the tunnel before the second half.

“We saw the pictures before of Messi in the tunnel talking to the team,’ Ferdinand said on the BBC.

“When the great Lionel Messi is speaking to them team-mates, they have to listen, they have to come together. ‘Without that unity, you can’t achieve anything.’

Messi has often been accused of not being capable of leadership role which involves verbal communication. Whether Messi continues to give team talks remains to be seen but manager Sampaoli has a lot of things to still sort out in terms of personnel.

“He [Sampaoli] made a few mistakes in the last two games, he knows that,’ former Argentina defender Zabaleta said.

“It’s time for unity. In those moments you need that, players, staff – everybody together,” he concluded.