Troost-Ekong and Balogun can stop Messi – Salisu

Super Eagles chief coach, Salisu Yusuf has admitted that Lionel Messi’s goalscoring form for Barcelona in Europe won’t give the team a sleepless nightmare ahead of the World Cup today (Tuesday).

The Argentina international has hit a rich vein of form of with his incredible goalscoring feat in the domestic and European scene where he has scored 25 goals and six goals.

It will be recalled that Messi scored twice against the Super Eagles at the 2014 World Cup, where they won 3-2 in the group stages, however, Salisu told Soccernet.com.ng that he’s not worried about Messi’s form but that the duo of William Troost-Ekong and Leon Balogun are capable of stopping him.

“I have read many stories on how many have been painting Europe with goals with his wonderful and out-of-the-world skills. However, those teams he scored against are not Nigeria and I can assure you that our defensive duo of William Troost-Ekong and Leon Balogun are capable of handling Messi’s threat,” Salisu told Soccernet.com.ng.

“It will be disastrous if we decide to focus only on Messi when we know that there are other players such as Sergio Aguero, Dybala and a few to mention who are doing very well in their clubs.”