England left-back Nico O’Reilly is relishing the “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” to face Lionel Messi in Wednesday’s World Cup semi-final against Argentina.
Thomas Tuchel’s secured a place in the final four with a draining 2-1 win against Norway in the Miami heat on Saturday, and now face a match in Atlanta against the defending world champions, who saw off Switzerland 3-1.
It will be the first time Messi has faced England, and at 39, it could be the last. Manchester City defender O’Reilly has never faced him at club level either.
“I can’t wait,” O’Reilly, who will probably have to defend against Messi one-on-one if he starts at left-back, told BBC Radio 5 Live.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. He’s coming towards the end of his career. For me personally, he’s the best player to ever touch a football pitch. And yeah, I can’t wait for the challenge.”
Messi began the tournament with a hat-trick in a 3-0 win against Algeria as he became the all-time leading goalscorer in World Cup history, equalling Miroslav Klose’s record of 16, which had stood since 2014.
The Argentina captain has since scored five more to take that record – his total of eight goals putting him joint-first with France’s Kylian Mbappe in the Golden Boot race, and taking his career World Cup tally to 21.
While the five-time Ballon d’Or winner is Argentina’s main threat, England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford warned against ignoring the other talents in Lionel Scaloni’s side.
“He has scored so many goals and contributed to so many over his career. It’s great to finally come up against him after so long, and watching him as a kid,” Pickford told media at England’s training base in Kansas on Monday.
“We all know how good Messi is but we also know how good Argentina are. We can’t solely rely on [stopping] Messi. We’ve got to focus on their other strengths and the weaknesses we can take advantage of.”
The winner of the semi-final will face either France or Spain – who play each other on Tuesday (20:00 BST) – in the World Cup final at the New York New Jersey Stadium on Sunday, 19 July (20:00 BST).
