Tagliafico and the memory of Argentina-Croatia in Russia 2018: “It will be a totally different match, but we need to take advantage of that experience”

Nicolás Tagliafico is one of the survivors. On both sides, in one position or another, there are still traces of what happened four and a half years ago when Croatia gave Argentina’s side a heavy blow at the 2018 World Cup in Russia. But the current French footballer of Olympique de Lyon used logic to talk about how it can affect that 0-3 defeat at the Nizhny Novgorod stadium.

“Today we see that Croatia is still in the final stages, which means they did a good job. There are some similarities with 2018, but there are different players and characteristics. We are another team too. It will be totally different from what happened four years ago.the game will also take place in another way, and you also need to take advantage of the experience of that game”, explained the player who came out of Banfield at the press conference.

How did they analyze this duel in the national team? “We’ve seen Croatia in these days, we know they have high quality players, with good foot in midfield, with good heights, they know how to play inside, they have the ability to cross and get people into the box. It will be a very worked party that will be defined in detailbut we also have our weapons.

And he concluded: “They have high quality players. We try to focus on ourselves, on the players we have, on the team, on our strengths. We will put together a game plan to counter those players who have. The important thing is to think about us. We are in the semifinals and we have to think about what to do to be able to hurt him and think about Argentina”.

In principle, apart from the fact that coach Lionel Scaloni has not confirmed his starting line-up, Tagliafico would need to win the title against Croatia after suspension for accumulated yellow cards Marco Acuna. Another alternative could be the inclusion in this sector of Lisandro Martínez.

Other statements by Tagliafico

“It was always like this, Lionel Messi He is our captain, our leader, he guides us, he motivates us to know that we can always do more. For us, we are delighted that he is our captain and that the national team is all going in the same direction and continues to make dreams come true with him by our side. It’s not easy to put into words. I think we have enough experience in this Cup to be like this at the moment. We know that in elimination matches there will be moments where you can suffer. We must have the personality to live it and take it to a place of enjoyment. Say: ‘I am suffering to defend the colors of my Selection'”.

“There’s no peace of mind in penalties, even if we have faith in ‘Dibu’. Penalties can be worked on, but on a pitch with lots of people, with emotions, but we know ‘Dibu’ is there and we are going to help”.

“The sensations are positive. We are happy to have achieved the goal of being in the top four. But we still have goals to achieve and we are working to achieve them. We are very happy.”

“It’s difficult to explain because in the elimination matches in the last minutes you look for everything, if you’re behind you go to tie the match and it’s not easy to work with it because the situations are totally different in each match. We know how to suffer, but you have to be prepared, but look for a way, if that happens, so as not to create so many opportunities. These are different moments. We’ve already lived it, we’ve already experienced it. We have to think about winning the game and try to suffer less.”.

“It’s situations, it’s football, we’re not cars. There are emotions, it always happens in other matches, two teams fighting for a dream, these things happen. I haven’t spoken to any of my former teammates, on the pitch when it’s over I said goodbye, I had no contact days later, there will be some time to talk, both they and we will have a story to tell and we will have anecdotes of the moment we are living in. We are already focused on the match against Croatia, we want to continue achieve our goals”.