HE'S THE MESSI-AH

Pressure on Lionel to play Maradona role

BACK in 1986, Diego Maradona lifted Argentina above eight very evenly matched quarter-finalists.

He led Argentina to World Cup glory and made that team special in the same way that Lionel Messi is doing now for this generation.

This time, Argentina look pretty average – if they did not have Messi, you would say they have no chance of winning the trophy.

Why they were so many people’s pre-tournament favourites is anyone’s guess. Maybe they were just starstruck like the rest of us.

But Messi takes Argentina to a different level and, with him in their line-up, you would probably make them favourites to beat Holland in the quarter-finals.

This was another Messi fairy tale.