Benin are seemingly ready to party with Lionel Messi on Tuesday night with defender Tijani Mohamed admitting the African side are going to “give everything so that this celebration goes really well”.
Messi will bring the curtain down on his Argentina career in Buenos Aires with a special farewell game in front of an adoring crowd at the Estadio Monumental.
And it appears the adulation also extends to the visitors’ dressing room.
Mohamed told Argentinian TV station C5N: “We don’t need to mark Messi. We are going to enjoy this match. There’s no special plan to defend against Messi, we just have to enjoy this game, and that’s it. I’m going to look at him like this: ‘Messi, you are God’.
“For me he’s the best in the world.”
Benin want to enjoy celebrations with hero Messi
Messi will make his 208th and final appearance for his country and he appears a good bet to increase his goal tally that currently stands at 125 if Mohamed’s approach is anything to go by.
The centre-half, who is currently without a club after his deal at Swiss second division side Yverdon-Sport was terminated last month, says he is totally committed to ensuring his hero gets the send-off he deserves.
He added: “Benin is a very, very good team to play with, but I can’t talk about Benin right now because we have to enjoy this match, and we’re going to give everything so that this celebration goes really well.”
Messi is irreplaceable – Argentina boss Scaloni
It promises to be an emotional night with Argentina boss Lionel Scaloni conceding his side will struggle to replace the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner, considered by many pundits to be the greatest player of all time.
“Leo is irreplaceable,” said Scaloni at Monday’s press conference. “We will seek to continue playing with the same identity, with the idea of being united and playing as a team. It is obvious that without Messi everything changes, but the national team has an identity and the challenge is to continue playing this way, that the guys who come join that cause.”
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