Messi's former acquaintances lead the French mission: instead of Argentina's ace | world Cup

Everyone plays in Spain, but the relationship with Messi is different between them. Umtiti, from Barcelona, ​​is lucky to face only the Argentine at training. Life is more complicated for Varane, defender of Real Madrid, and Lucas Hernandez, defender and left-back of Atletico Madrid.

Among the opponents, Varane is more used to fighting with Messi. They have already participated together in 13 clbadics, and the defender has lived the extreme in front of the attacker. In the first two meetings, in 2013, he was the defender who scored goals, one in each game, in a 1-1 draw and a 3 to 1 victory. Messi missed out on both.

But, from there, the story has changed. In the next 11 games, the Argentinian has become infernal. He defeated six of them. Goals scored in five. In one, he scored three times – winning 4 to 3 in Madrid in 2014, with Varane entering the second half (see video above).

For Lucas Hernandez, the experiments are smaller. There were only four matches for the Atlético de Madrid against Barcelona 's ace. They lost two, shot one and had a memorable win: 2-0 by the Champions League in 2016 with two goals from Griezmann, the starting striker and one of the big bets of France for the match of Saturday.

The French "Spanish" trio will also be joined by goalkeeper Lloris (Tottenham-ING), right-back Pavard (Stuttgart-ALE) and Kanté (Chelsea-ING) of the World Cup. And coach Didier Deschamps believes that Messi's experience in duels can be positive for the team. But remember that Messi is still Messi.

– I hope to answer your question after the match saying that it's a benefit, yes. I do not know if it's a benefit. Playing with may leave the player aware of certain situations that may recur. But Messi is Messi. With his talent, he can have some pop. It's unpredictable.

On Thursday, defender Umtiti gave a press conference and, of course, was questioned several times about Messi. And he greeted his friend's football, an opponent on Saturday.