Leeds United man hopes for Argentina clash after chanting for 'not normal' Messi exploits
One of Leeds United's World Cup stars has admitted he would love to play against his 'favourite player of all time' en route to the final.
Lionel Messi delighted all of Argentina and much of the world with his exploits in Kansas City this week, scoring a sublime hat-trick in a 3-0 victory over Algeria. The 38-year-old is taking part in his sixth World Cup and the midweek treble made it 16 goals from 27 appearances in the competition, which in turn put him joint-top of the all-time goalscoring list alongside Miroslav Klose.
Messi also delighted Leeds United attacker Brenden Aaronson, who is playing in his second World Cup. “Messi is my favourite player of all time, of course," he said. "So to watch him at 38 years old score a hat-trick was something that's just not normal, you know what I mean? So it was crazy to watch and amazing to watch with the guys, you know, everybody doing the Messi chant, stuff like that. So it was amazing.”
Aaronson, who was an unused substitute, and the US Men's National Team began their tournament with a resounding 4-1 win over Paraguay and face Australia on Friday night in their second Group D fixture. According to the 58-times capped 25-year-old, American sights are set on a home tournament final but meeting Messi would be a dream scenario.
”It would be amazing to play in Argentina, of course, the World Cup defending champions, but you know we're here to try to go as far as we can and make it to the final," he said. "If we're able to play them along the way, that'd be amazing. We're ready for anybody in this tournament, we got to keep that attitude, and we're really just excited to keep going on.”
Aaronson’s manager Mauricio Pochettino echoed his forward’s astonishment at Messi’s continued dominance. “He's from a different planet," Pochettino said. "Any comparison or metaphor we use, any adjective we might use to describe him it's impossible; it wouldn't be fair. It’s incredible to watch him.”
Pochettino has installed his fellow Argentines as his favourites for the tournament. “It's incredible to watch the world champions with its players, with its coaching staff, to see the fans,” he said. It was the first match we watched where you could hear the crowd more clearly than the commentators. And the icing on the cake is having Messi. I think they're the team to beat. They're the favourites. They're the contenders, and they proved it in the first match that is always difficult.”