World Cup 2010: Nigeria Aim To Disrupt Argentina's Lionel Messi With Strong Backline

After the Argentina manager Diego Maradona demanded that referees at the World Cup protect flair players, Nigeria manager Lars Lagerback has insisted that he has no tactical plan to hurt Lionel Messi.

Speaking to the official Fifa website the Nigeria manager commented that the whole of the Argentina squad would be a threat.

“We are playing Argentina, not Messi. So there will be no player given the special job to mark him." Lagerback said.

"When you play really good teams like Argentina with a lot of really good individuals, you have to have a very good team performance, otherwise you don't win."

Lagerback expressed the view that organisation and tactical skill would hold the Nigeria squad in good stead against Diego Maradona’s Argentina.

He added: "For me football is a combination between the individual skills you have in the team and to try to organise the team as good as possible.

"When we have the ball we want to attack as much as possible, but of course with brains. But when we don't have the ball, we have to defend. And if the opponents are better, then we have to defend more than we attack."

Emphasising the need to defend Lagerback will be relying on a solid defence in group B fixtures against Argentina, Greece and South Korea.