FIFA World Cup: Perisic rubs Salt in Argentina Wounds

Croatian player

Ivan Perisic believes that Lionel Messi is as good as Cristiano Ronaldo. However, he warned that the team cannot rely on the Barcelona forward alone in the FIFA World Cup.

Perisic lauded Messi’s qualities, but said

Argentina can only succeed if they learn to play as a unit. His come on the back of Croatia’s 3-0 victory over Argentina at the World Cup.

Perisic put in an impressive display on Thursday night for the Croats. All at the expense of Willy Caballero’s error, gifting Ante Rebic the opener. Goals from Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic sealed Argentina’s fate and secured Croatia a place in the knockout stages.

Argentina could risk of an early exit if Iceland wins against Nigeria. A win would put the Nordic country in pole position to progress alongside Croatia.

Messi was well guarded by Croatia throughout the FIFA World Cup game and was given very little breathing space. The Inter winger is of the opinion that Argentina must learn to work as a unit. Only then can the 30-year-old reach the levels that Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo has managed in major tournaments.

“Messi is the best, just like Cristiano Ronaldo, but you can only achieve something if you play as a team,” Perisic said.“Argentina need to change something if they are to go forward.“As for us, we’re on the right track to emulate what we did in France ’98 and must continue like this.“We did really well. In the locker room, we said that we had to defend stoutly and we did that.“We had chances in the first half too, then the goals arrived after the break. We have six points, we deserved them and now we want to beat Iceland too.”

If Croatia manage to win a point against Iceland, they would secure the top spot in Group D. It will also ensure that a tie with France can be avoided in the next round.