World Cup 2026: Chance to face Lionel Messi once in a lifetime – Nico O’Reilly
England left-back Nico O’Reilly is relishing the “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” to face Lionel Messi in Wednesday’s World Cup semi-final against Argentina.
Thomas Tuchel secured a place in the last four with a hard-fought 2-1 win over Norway in the Miami heat on Saturday and now faces a game in Atlanta against the reigning world champions, who beat Switzerland 3-1.
This will be Messi’s first encounter with England and, at the age of 39, it could be his last. Manchester City defender O’Reilly has also never faced him at club level.
“I can’t wait,” O’Reilly, who will likely have to defend one-on-one against Messi if he starts at left-back, told BBC Radio 5 Live.
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. He’s coming towards the end of his career. For me personally, he’s the best player to ever touch the football field. And yes, I’m looking forward to this challenge.”
Messi, who started the tournament with a hat-trick in a 3-0 win over Algeria, became the all-time top scorer in World Cup history by equalizing Miroslav Klose’s goal record of 16 goals, which he had broken since 2014.
The Argentina captain has since broken that record by scoring five more goals; The eight goals he scored took him to first place in the Golden Shoe race, along with French Kylian Mbappe, and increased his career World Cup points to 21.
While the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner is Argentina’s main threat, England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford has warned the other talents in Lionel Scaloni’s squad should not be overlooked.
“He’s scored so many goals and contributed to so many things throughout his career. It’s great to finally come up against him after so long and watch him as a kid,” Pickford told media at England’s training base in Kansas on Monday.
“We all know how good Messi is, but we also know how good Argentina is. We can’t just rely on him. [stopping] Messi. We should focus on their other strengths and weaknesses that we can exploit.”
The winner of the semi-final will face either France or Spain, who play each other on Tuesday (20:00 BST), in the World Cup final at the New Jersey Stadium in New York on Sunday 19 July (20:00 BST).
