Croatia to ask Ivan Rakitic for advice on how to stop Lionel Messi

Bengaluru, June 19: Ahead of Thursday's crucial fixture against Argentina, Croatia boss Zlatko Dalic has suggested that he will surely seek help from Ivan Rakitic who is a team-mate of the Argentine Captain Messi in Barcelona.

Croatia's number seven Rakitic has played with Messi at the club for the last four years and Dalic insisted that he wants to use the inputs of Rakitic to stop last season's European Golden ball winner.

"Of course, Rakitic will be my assistant for the next three days, and we will certainly look for some advice on how to stop Messi," he told in a news conference.

"I always ask my players about such things and about many other things. I love communicating and I am happy to accept every tip.

"Ivan likes it too and he will tell me, I will use all the information I can."

Messi missed a penalty in their last game against underdogs Iceland and the South American side could only salvage a 1-1 draw against the European side.

However, despite Messi's horror show in the last game, the Croatian boss has admitted his team will not only be focusing on Messi as he believes the whole team is good enough to defeat any team in the world.

He added: "There is no perfect way to stop Lionel Messi. He shot 10 times last night [against Iceland], but we must stop his attacks by compactness.

"I think he is the greatest player in the world -- but while one excellent player can make a great result, a great team does the job much better."

After their shocking draw against Iceland and Croatia's win against Nigeria, Argentina currently sit second in the table with just one point.

And should they fail to win their next vital match against Croatia, then Messi and co could be in the danger line for a shock exit from the group stage of the World Cup for first time 16 years.