Nicholas Tagliafico spoke about skirmishes with players from the Netherlands in the quarter-finals of the World Cup, the match that completed the qualification of Argentina, on penalties.
“We are not machines, we have emotions, and this has always happened and will continue to happen in football matches. That’s out of the way, now we’re thinking about what’s ahead of us,” he said, before being asked if he spoke to any of his former Ajax teammates (Blind, Timber, Bergwijn, Berguis or Claassen): “No, I didn’t talk to anyone.”
Therefore, all attention is on the opponent in the semi-finals: “Four years have passed since that game with Croatia. [derrota por 0-3 na fase de grupos, no Mundial-2018]… there are some similarities, but there are also some differences. We are also a different team, we have different players. It will be a different game than this one. And Croatia will cook it differently too. We know what we will find, because we are in the semi-finals of the World Cup.
While acknowledging that Argentina is a team that “knows how to suffer,” the Lyon player hopes he doesn’t have to do it again, ensuring he is ready to play whatever manager Scaloni’s tactics may be, whoever is chosen. to take the place of the left-back after the disqualification of Marcos Acuña.
“We are confident, happy that we have reached the first goal – to get into the top four. But we have other goals and we are working to achieve them,” he warned, drawing on the influence of Lionel Messi: “It has always been like this. He is our captain, our leader. He motivates us and we have the advantage that we know we are counting on him, that he will help us try to win and that we can always give a little more. We try to row everyone in the same direction in search of this dream, and he is next to us.”
