France coach Didier Deschamps revealed the tactics which he employed to keep Argentina skipper Lionel Messi quiet throughout the game as France went on to clinch a magnificent 4-3 victory against Argentina to see Les Blues through to the Quarter Final of the World Cup 2018.
The little magician provided two assists in the game against France but it was clearly not enough in a game where Kylian Mbappe scored twice and ran the show to give France the edge over the Albiceleste.
According to a report from Marca, Deschamps revealed that he had N’GoloKante marking him all the time to ‘neutralise’ the Argentina no.10 and also blocked Javier Mascherano and Ever Banega from supplying to Messi.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. “I think my Argentinian counterpart wanted to give him more freedom to come behind our central midfielders, but we adapted to neutralise him,”Deschamps said.
“[N’Golo] Kante was always marking him.
“We had two chances; stopping him getting on the ball, which we did a lot, and when he had it we had to have one on him and one just off him.
“He was subject to a unique vigilance. We knew the connection between [Javier] Mascherano, [Ever] Banega and Messi, if you want Messi to have less influence you have to block the other two.”
The coach was also keen to praise his own team, who showed that, despite their lack of experience, they can compete at the very highest level.
“It’s a team with little experience, but I know that they can go far,” he insisted. “My job is to make sure they're all at the best level.” Deschamps concluded.
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