Dalic claims Croatia will repeat the Neymar tactic on Messi

Croatia is once again wreaking havoc in the World Cup after they managed to knock out Brazil on penalties on Friday, which has prompted manager Zlatko Dalic to claim that his side isn’t afraid of dealing with Leo Messi.

Croatia were triumphant against Brazil when they got the win over Selecao in a 4-2 victory in the penalty shoot-outs which came after a 1-1 draw in the extra time. Livakovic was once again the hero, as he saved yet another penalty, leading his team to the semi-finals where they’ll meet Argentina.

Neymar was for the most part held off by Croatia’s impressive defense, however, he did manage to score a brilliant goal in extra time. Zlatko Dalic claims that his team will do the same to Lionel Messi come the semi-final.

"We need to guard against Messi, but not in a player-on-player style, as we didn't [do that] in our last meeting,"

Dalic said.

"We know how much he runs, how much he likes to play with the ball at his feet and the key to our defensive phase will be discipline.

"If we repeat the same thing as against Brazil, which is that we are close [to him], that we stand by the player, we have nothing to fear."

Dalic was adamant that Messi couldn’t be their main focus as multiple Argentine players could also pose a threat.

"We will make a detailed analysis of [Argentina] because we have not been so focused on them so far,"

Dalic added.

"Messi is still their main player, who plays great and carries this national team. They also have some young, talented players and they look very dangerous.

"However, they showed they are vulnerable because they led 2-0 against the Netherlands, and in the end they barely reached penalties at 2-2.

"It's up to us to give our best and go into the game one hundred percent focused."

Follow 

 for the