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‘He gets me off my seat like no other player in my LIFE’: Graeme Souness says Argentina star Lionel Messi can ‘single-handle’ carry them to victory in Qatar…while England ‘not far behind’ ranks with the South American nation as favorites
- Graeme Souness praises Argentine superstar Lionel Messi
- He said Messi could single-handedly carry Argentina to victory in Qatar
- Souness believes Argentina and Brazil are the favorites to lift the trophy
- However, the Scot feels that England is not far behind them
- Follow Sportsmail’s live blog here for all the latest World Cup news
Graeme Souness says Lionel Messi can single-handedly carry Argentina to World Cup victory
The World Cup is the only trophy missing from Messi’s incredible career, and Qatar is expected to be his last chance to win football’s biggest trophy.
Ahead of Argentina’s opener against Saudi Arabia, Souness described the South American nation as one of the two favourites, and that England are ‘not far behind’ after their impressive 6-2 win over Iran on Monday.
Graeme Souness claims Lionel Messi can take Argentina to World Cup victory
Souness told ITV Sport: “Argentina is a favorite for me, along with Brazil.
“They need to get into the discussion, but England is not far behind them.
“I think if we see a version of Messi from seven or eight years ago, he can carry them to the tournament on his own.
Together with Cristiano Ronaldo, maybe the best player I’ve ever seen kick a ball. I think we should cherish these moments. So they’re definitely in the discussion.’
Souness continued his praise for the Paris Saint-Germain star by claiming no one has ever gotten him off his chair in his lifetime.
Souness says England are not far behind Brazil and Argentina as World Cup favorites
He also said that in his fifth World Cup, this is the strongest Argentina team he has played in.
He said: “I think this is his strongest team he has played with at the World Cup.
“It’s such a special event, the World Cup, you have to expect him to show up. He hasn’t had great seasons lately. He’s arguably the best player ever – I think Ronaldo is a little bit behind Messi.
“It’s because of the longevity – he’s done it for so long at the top.
Messi needed just ten minutes to get his World Cup account off goal with a penalty kick
Souness believes that this is the strongest Argentina World Cup squad with Messi
I could personally talk about Messi all day, he is such a unique talent. There is nothing about him to dislike. He works his socks off, he can create, score goals – he gets me off my chair like no other player in my life watching football.’
It took Messi just ten minutes to get on the scoresheet after calmly putting a penalty into the back of the net to open the scoring against Saudi Arabia.
Souness, a former Liverpool and Scotland player, was impressed by England’s performance on Monday.
Goals from Jude Bellingham, Bukayo Saka, Raheem Sterling, Marcus Rashford and Jack Grealish secured a comfortable 6-2 victory in their opener.