Messi had no chance with Argentina teammates Rojo and Caballero at the back – Gary Neville

Lionel Messi had no chance of achieving success at this World Cup with Willy Caballero and Marcos Rojo in the side according to Gary Neville.

The former Manchester United and England full-back revealed his distrust for the two players when speaking about Argentina’s tournament experience following Portugal’s defeat to Uruguay.

Argentina crashed out of the 2018 World Cup in the Round of 16 when they lost to France 4-3. Despite being a thrilling game and Argentina only losing by a single goal, France managed to keep their opponents at arms-length through-out the tie.

It was Marcos Rojo who scored the decisive goal against Nigeria which ultimately saw Argentina scrape through their group as runners-up, but the 28-year-old had a nightmarish 45 minutes against France with Kylian Mbappe in particular causing him problems.

Rojo brought down the teen sensation for a penalty which subsequently led to the France opener after Antoine Griezmann converted the spot-kick, and it was no surprise when the defender was substituted off at half-time.

When Neville was asked during ITV’s coverage of the World Cup whether Lionel Messi would play in another tournament, the former England international instead turned his attention to Rojo, rather bluntly revealing what he thought of the Argentine defender.

“You can talk about Messi with Argentina but from the very first game against Iceland, you have Willy Caballero in net, Rojo at centre-half – what chance have you got? You’ve got no chance,” Neville said.

“So yeah, from Messi’s point of view, maybe that’s it.”

It is not the first time that Neville has been critical of Rojo during the Russian World Cup. Following their 1-1 draw with Iceland Neville was less than impressed with the defender’s decision making, calling him a “muppet” for taking on a ridiculously ambitious long-range shot.

“When the ball came to Rojo – I’ve been watching him for four years at United – I was thinking, ‘don’t shoot from there, you Muppet,” Neville said.

France will now play Uruguay in the quarter-final in Nizhny Novgorod on July 6 with the winner facing a semi-final against either Brazil, Belgium or Japan.

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