France head coach Didier Deschamps said yesterday that his side should do their best to minimize Argentina captain’s contribution in their upcoming FIFA World Cup encounter, which will be held in Kazan today.

“Messi is Messi. Just take a look at his amaz- ing statistics. We’d like to block him tomorrow, but he can decide the match in just one mo- ment, he doesn’t need many chances and much time. We need to do our best to minimize his con- tribution to Argentina’s performance. We’re a young team… But we’ll do anything to play well in the round of 16,” Des- champs told journalists.

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The 49-year-old Frenchman added that it was impossible to predict Messi’s action, as “one spark” was enough for him to “turn the game upside down,” but Argentina’s strategy was still not based on Messi exclusively.