Russia 2018: Eagles sending Messi into retirement ―Idowu

Brian Idowu is conscious that Barcelona’s Argentina superstar Lionel Messi could play his last World Cup match in Saint Petersburg this evening if the South Americans lose to Nigeria.

At Monday afternoon’s press conference, the left-back was optimistic that the experienced Turkish referee, Cuneyt Cakir, will not favour the two-time world champions, adding that manager Gernot Rohr has prepared the team for a psychological battle.

”That will be our main goal to make it Messi’s last World Cup game. As much as we love as footballers to enjoy Messi play, it’s against us and it’s only one option for us and it has to be that he plays his last game here in St Petersburg.

”I would of course love to swap jerseys with him but I hope to swap jerseys with all the players in the Argentinian side, they have a lot of good players and I watch all of them play on television, it’s not just Messi.”

The Super Eagles number two added: ”I have seen that the referee is a well-known referee, he has refereed a lot of Champions League matches, semifinals and finals. I don’t think it’s going to be about match officials against us.

”The coach spoke with us that we just have to be calm, try to play fair and be prepared for any situation that is going to happen on the pitch. We are not thinking about officials, it’s all in our hands.”

Of the seven goals conceded by the Super Eagles in four previous World Cup matches against Argentina, six were from set-pieces: three corner kicks and three free-kicks.