Russia national coach Stanislav Cherchesov has opined that Argentina are hugely dependent on Lionel Messi to influence their results. The South American have lost heavily to Nigeria and Spain over the past year where Messi has not taken the playing field and Cherchesov believes Jorge Sampaoli’s side are not psychologically prepared to play without the Barcelona star.

“Argentina’s problem is that they are not psychologically prepared to play without Messi,” Cherchesov told La Vanguardia. “I’m not saying it’s a team of one player, but they cannot play without him. This was when, after the match with us, they played with Nigeria, and also lost to Spain. They depend on Messi.”
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