What the last League of Ireland striker to face Pico Lopes before his World Cup heroics thinks the Cape Verde centre-half MUST do as he faces off against the might Lionel Messi

Published: 17:16, 2 July 2026 | Updated: 17:16, 2 July 2026 The League of Ireland’s age-defying 2025 top scorer, and the last striker Pico Lopes faced before embarking on his World Cup odyssey, has told him to make sure he swipes his shirt. Pádraig Amond has gone head-to-head with Shamrock Rovers captain Lopes ‘eight or ten times’ since joining Waterford FC in 2024, including Lopes’s final club game before his World Cup preparations began last month. Asked for his advice to his domestic rival for Friday’s knock-out game against reigning champions Argentina, Amond told the Irish Mail on Sunday: ‘Enjoy the game, enjoy the occasion.  'You’re playing against perhaps the greatest player that’s ever played – the best player I’ve ever seen playing – so enjoy the fact that you’ve come up against him at his World Cup swansong. Pádraig Amond, the League of Ireland’s age-defying 2025 top scorer, and the last striker Pico Lopes faced before embarking on his World Cup odyssey, has told him to enjoy the occasion Lionel Messi is welcome to all the empanadas he can eat for free, should he ever find himself peckish in Dublin 8 ‘And just when the clock starts to hit 89, 90 minutes, start loitering towards him and see if he can get his shirt, because there won’t be many shirts from Messi’s last World Cup.’ Amond describes his own goalscoring record against the Crumlin-born centre-back as ‘decent’, and each have got the better of each other in some ‘serious battles’ over the last two-and-a-half seasons. Pádraig Amond, from Carlow, with his family and his football-mad son in a Messi top But he stressed: ‘First and foremost, he’s a really, really nice person, and I think that’s the best thing about all of this – he’s just a genuine person from speaking to him after the games and speaking to him at award events. ‘It’s great seeing him doing so well, because I know how tough he is to play against, but equally I know how much better the other players are in the World Cup than what I am, so the fact he’s lifted his level to that level is very, very impressive.’  The former English League Two star sent Lopes a message before the World Cup pledging his support for Cape Verde, which has only got stronger as the country of half a million advanced unbeaten through the group – with the same record as Ireland at Italia ‘90. Pico with the Irish flag after Cape Verde's draw with Saudi Arabia Amond recently shared a photo online of his young family, including his football-mad son wearing a Messi Argentina jersey. ‘It won’t be on [during Cape Verde versus Argentina], I guarantee that,’ he laughed. ‘He’s more of a Ronaldo man than a Messi man. I’m trying to convince him Messi was, is, way better than Ronaldo.’ The 38-year-old Carlow man scored a hat-trick for Waterford five days before Messi, 39, scored three in Argentina’s opening World Cup game against Algeria. ‘I suppose that’s where the comparisons probably end,’ Amond said. The owner of Dublin’s favourite Argentinian bakery has said there is ‘no chance’ he’ll offer Pico Lopes a free cake, even if the Crumlin-born Cape Verde defender were to make an error against Argentina on Friday night. But his adversary Lionel Messi is welcome to all the empanadas he can eat for free, should he ever find himself peckish in Dublin 8. Benjamin Pugliese, the owner of Bakeology on Meath Street, with his family outside the bakery Benjamin Pugliese, the owner of Bakeology on Meath Street, expects a ‘very tough’ game against the African archipelago nation, but added: ‘We are the [reigning] world champions and we have Messi. We don’t need anyone else. Of course we’re going to win, but it’s going to be hard.’ Asked if a slip at the back from Lopes would be rewarded with a free cake from the popular city centre bakery, Mr Pugliese insisted: ‘No, no, no. Not a chance. No. Everything is money!’ And if the tournament’s current top scorer shows up hungry? ‘Messi, of course,’ he said. ‘Everything free for him.’ Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article.