Argentina v Switzerland LIVE: Team news and latest updates as Lionel Messi eyes World Cup 2026 semi-finals

“It’s going to be a highlight of my career, indeed,” Xhaka said. “Every moment when you can do something that special, it feels different

“When you’re in the quarter-final, you don’t really care about the weather,” Xhaka said. “There are no excuses.”

“Now after 72 years, to be able to be here with Switzerland and to play against the reigning champions, it just makes me very proud.

“But I am not here to talk. I want to take the next steps, and we’re very close to the end. I am yearning for it, I am hungry and now we just need to show how much we really want it on the pitch.”

“It’s not going to be revenge. This ‌is a completely different match. Now we are in ⁠the quarter-final, and we want to win. This is our overarching aim.

“Regarding (Swiss) fans: keep dreaming. I am a person who always dreams, and dreams can come true. If we want to fulfil our dreams, you need to work, you need to sweat, you need to push your limits if you want to beat Argentina.”

Yakin suggested the best way to limit Messi’s influence was to deny him possession altogether. “When we have the ball, then he won’t be able to act as much,” he said. “We just try to play our game and not allow him to play the ball. “There are many solutions, and we try to find the best solution. Tomorrow, on the pitch, we will perform as a unit. We will try to play good passes, press high against an Argentinian team, the reigning champions.”

“We cannot influence what people say about us,” Xhaka ‌told reporters on Friday. “The only thing we can do is we can perform and show what we can do on the pitch. Nothing else matters.”

Switzerland will be without leading scorer Johan Manzambi for Saturday’s World Cup quarter-final against Argentina, coach Murat Yakin said on Friday, dealing a blow to the Swiss as they prepare to face the reigning champions in Kansas City.

Manzambi, who has three goals and two `assists at the tournament, also missed Switzerland’s penalty shootout victory over Colombia in the last 16 after suffering a knee injury, and Yakin said the midfielder had failed to recover in time. “We tried everything that we could to get him back, unfortunately, he’s unable to perform tomorrow,” Yakin said.”Johan Manzambi is in a lot of pain. It was a shock to all of us. This momentum was on his side, and there is so `much joy when he plays football.”

Lionel Messi has had a fresh lick of paint.

“We called the mural ‘From another galaxy’ ‌but in reality he’s a human ​like us, who had to deal ‌with a lot ⁠of challenges from childhood, who was ⁠born among humble working people, who rose above ‌it,” said ​Lisandro Urteaga, one of ‌the artists.

A 534-square-meter (5,748-square-foot) mural on the side of a building in `downtown Rosario, his hometown in Argentina, has been restored and inaugurated just in time for the top-scoring forward’s World Cup quarter-final `match against Switzerland. The restoration ​of ⁠the mural, which was originally painted in 2021, needed 300 litres (79 ⁠gallons) of paint, said Marlene Zuriaga, one ​of ⁠the project directors.The work, titled “From another galaxy and from my city,” also now boasts three stars on the giant Messi’s jersey badge, one for each of Argentina’s three World Cup wins, and the word “Gracias!” (“Thank you!”) at the `top. Global superstar Messi, now 39, became the World Cup’s all-time leading goalscorer during this tournament. But he got his start in football at local Rosario team Newell’s Old Boys.

“There ⁠are no easy rivals, we all know that,” Scaloni said.

“They are a very good team. They compete ‌with the best ​national teams and always come through. They ‌may win or lose, but they ​always compete. They have World Cup tradition, experienced players and are physically strong.”

“Leo ⁠runs more or less the ‌same in every match,” Scaloni said. “Physically, it’s true that he has done preparation work with his fitness coach and it has paid off, but in ‌terms of numbers I don’t know if he ‌has changed that much.”

“What is clear is that he’s giving everything he has. When he gives everything he has and senses that he can create danger, he is a machine,” the coach `added. Scaloni said those expecting age to catch up with Messi did not know the player well enough.”It doesn’t surprise me,” he said.

“Maybe people who don’t know him expected that at 39 he wouldn’t be at this level, but I don’t know how many times I’ve said it: as long as he wants to, he will be the best. I think that, and not because ‌I’m his coach.”

Argentine Antonio Rattín, a former Boca Juniors player whose act of defiance while representing Argentina at the 1966 World Cup helped lead to the introduction of yellow and red cards, has died, the country’s football federation said Saturday. He was 84.

Rattín died in Buenos Aires, according to the Argentine Football Association, or AFA, which expressed its “deepest sorrow at the passing of a historic symbol of Boca Juniors and the national team,” with whom he played in two World Cups.

A defensive midfielder known for his physical, hard-tackling style, Rattín won six Argentine league titles with Boca Juniors and was a Copa Libertadores runner-up in 1963.

“Rattín was one of us and loved these colours so much that they were the only ones he chose to defend throughout his 14-year career. A leader, an Argentine and forever a Bostero,” the club said.

With Argentina, Rattín played at the 1962 World Cup in Chile and the 1966 tournament in England, and also finished runner-up in the Copa América twice.