Lionel Messi sends message to England ahead of World Cup semi-final

Lionel Messi has sent a message to England ahead of the Three Lions' semi-final clash with Argentina.

England reached the last four by beating Norway 2-1 after extra time with goals from attacking midfielder Jude Bellingham.

Argentina were also forced to extra time before getting the job done against Switzerland, winning 3-1.

Messi, who will play his first-ever match against England, spoke about the upcoming fixture, labelling the Three Lions a "powerhouse".

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He told ESPN: "Everything I have seen and remember (about Argentina vs. England from 1986) is from videos and images that Argentinians constantly watch and relive.

"But I think this group is used to playing football matches regardless of the opponent. Obviously, playing against England is special because they are a powerhouse, and matches against powerhouses are always special.

"Personally, it's the first time I'm going to play against them. I've played against everyone except England, so it will be nice for that reason too.

"And we'll experience it for what it is: a World Cup semi-final against a powerhouse, a great team, and we'll try to arrive in the best possible shape to compete again."

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A victory for either side will set up a final against France or Spain, with the top four seeds in the world all in the last quartet.

Despite the win against Norway, England boss Thomas Tuchel was unhappy with the quality of the performance.

Bellingham disagreed with his coach, feeling the players put in a fantastic shift in challenging conditions.

In reaction to Bellingham's comments, Tuchel said: "Absolutely, no one disputes that. I am impressed with the shift that they put in.

"The effort, team spirit, the belief, and to overcome adversity and to dig in and find ways to win is on the absolutely highest level. They cannot get enough praise for that.

"But I'm also a football coach, and I think we can play better. In general, I think it was not a high-level game. I think we had better games in general.

"We had a lot of momentum swings for both teams, so, yeah, full credit to the team. We found a way. We're in the last four.

"This is, of course, the most important but the analysing head of me and the football coach in me still thinks that we can and have to play better football."

Tuchel and Bellingham's initial comments came at the conclusion of the contest with emotions still running high.

The Real Madrid midfielder picked up his fourth man of the match award of the summer thanks to his incredible brace.

Commenting on Bellingham, the England boss said: "World-class performance from a world-class player in big, big moments, in crucial moments, so absolute top class."

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