Guillem Balague
Football journalist on BBC Radio 5 Live

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Messi is not like Maradona, where he can do what Maradona did against Belgium in the semi-finals in Mexico in 1986, when he won it on his own. I watched that game again recently and it was unbelievable.

Messi's not that kind of player. He will do as much as he can, as long as the team ticks and plays for him. How do you do that? Move the ball faster than you did against Saudi Arabia, don't be so slow. Find the players between the lines, turn, find Messi - and then he'll give you the last pass or the goal. There was none of that - he needs the team.

National anthem time...

Argentina's anthem comes first and then the Mexican national anthem also known by its incipit 'Mexicans, at the cry of war' is belted out by all the players.

One or two could-be tenors in there.

Chris Sutton
Former England striker on BBC Radio 5 Live

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When you are as great as Messi is, he may say one thing while believing another.

This is the greatest prize of all, isn't it? And he's the greatest player. Top players want it all; they want the lot. He would want to end his international career on a high.

The scene is set. The players are walking out after psyching themselves up in the tunnel.

Crikey, listen to that noise. A huge roar greets both sets of players.

Guillem Balague
BBC Radio 5 Live

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One of the things I've found about Messi is that his emotional volume is very low, which means things don't affect him as much as they should. His heart is not pumping at 100 miles an hour when he's taking decisions, so he's generally making decisions.

He's gone from a period of being upset by his fans to being god by winning the Copa America, so there's no pressure on him.

He's now a perfect leader: after Saudi Arabia, in the past, he would have hidden. He said, "you know - it's just another game. Let's be together and we can turn this around." The fans said they needed to hear this from Leo. He's leading them.

He feels there are better teams than Argentina but he wants them to go as far as they can. There's no pressure.

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Argentina are determined to bring back joy to the nation after a day of mourning the second anniversary of Diego Maradona's death says coach Lionel Scaloni.

Ex-players and fans at the World Cup in Qatar paid tribute to Maradona to mark the 1986 World Cup winner's death from a heart attack in 2020 at the age of 60.

And after their shock 2-1 defeat to minnows Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, Argentina's players and coach have vowed to turn things around against Mexico on Saturday to keep alive their dream of lifting the World Cup for the third time.

"If he is watching us from heaven then we hope to bring him joy," said Scaloni on Friday.

"It seems incredible that he is no longer here. It's a day for all Argentines but we hope that tomorrow will be a happy day."

Maradona inspired Argentina to their last World Cup victory 36 years ago, when he was widely regarded as the best player in the world.

But can Lionel Messi, in his fifth and probably final attempt at a finals do something similar by winning football's greatest prize.

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Diego Maradona is just edging Lionel Messi for World Cup finals goals mind, eight to seven.

Phil McNulty
BBC Sport chief football writer at Lusail Stadium

No prizes for guessing who got the loudest roar when his face flashed up on the giant screens around Lusail Stadium.

Lionel Messi knows what is riding on this tonight both in terms of his international career and Argentina's World Cup hopes.

It was all business as he came out to warm up and the vast numbers of Argentina fans inside this huge arena are looking to him to put Argentina's campaign back on track after the shock opening loss to Saudi Arabia.

And the green shirts of Mexico are also out in force and their supporters are currently equally vociferous in support of their team. It's a bit lively in here.

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Mexico's manager Gerardo Martino was born in Rosario - the home city of Lionel Messi - 180 miles from Buenos Aires, and was a former team-mate of Maradona at Newell's Old Boys.

However, he says he will have no divided loyalties as his team face his compatriots.

"If you were in my place what would you do? Mexico has to win, we hope Mexico win," Martino said.

"I can tell you the place, the characteristics of my city, the hospital where I was born, the year I was born, describe for you my hometown in Argentina - but I work for Mexico and I want to win the game.

When asked about how to deal with the biggest threat for Mexico in Saturday's clash, Martino heaped praise on a certain Argentina number 10.

"Those who have faced Lionel [Messi] will say exactly the same thing: Whether we can stop him or not, it will all depend more on if he maybe has a bad day than on what we can do to actually stop him," he added.

"We always need to prepare as if Messi will show his best version. We can never speculate that maybe he won't, because many times it has happened that during the 90 minutes, five (minutes) were enough for him to decide the whole game."

Mexico got away with one in their first match didn't they with their 0-0 draw against Poland?

Not sure too many would expect Robert Lewandowski not to score from the penalty spot but then again it was a decent save from veteran goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa.

You can watch the highlights from that one below.

Best sombrero of the day? Hats off to this Mexico fan eh.

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The Argentina fans appear to have been in fine voice outside the Lusail Iconic Stadium, although things have not exactly been in perfect harmony between the two sets of supporters out in Qatar.

Earlier this week there were numerous reports , externaland social media videos showing showing clashes between Argentina and Mexico fans.

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Image source, Getty Images

They don't make 'em like they used to eh.

Wonder what Gary Lineker, Bryan Robson and Ian Rush would make of Gonzalo Montiel's shin pads?

Then again a couple of England greats and a Welsh great dressed as gangsters....!

Image source, @footballremind

Argentina make five changes from their shock 2-1 defeat by Saudi Arabia in their opening game.

Manchester United's Lisandro Martinez comes in, as does Brighton's Alex Mac Allister. They are joined by Marcos Acuna, Gonzalo Montiel and Guido Rodríguez.

Tottenham's Christian Romero drops out, alongside Nicolas Tagliafico, Leandro Paredes, Nahuel Molina and Papu Gómez.

Argentina: Emiliano Martínez, Marcos Acuna, Lisandro Martínez, Nicolas Otamendi, Gonzalo Montiel, Guido Rodríguez, Rodrigo De Paul, Alexis Mac Allister, Lionel Messi, Angel Di María, Lautaro Martínez.

Image source, BBC Sport

Mexico make three changes from their 0-0 draw with Poland.

Out go Jorge Sánchez, Henry Martín and Edson Álvarez for Néstor Araújo, Andrés Guardado and Kevin Álvarez.

Guardado captains the side too.

Mexico: Guillermo Ochoa, Hector Moreno, Nestor Araujo, Cesar Montes, Jesus Gallardo, Luis Chavez, Andres Guardado, Hector Herrera, Kevin Alvarez, Alexis Vega, Hirving Lozano.

Image source, BBC Sport

Image source, Getty Images

Lionel Scaloni had been retired for a year and was feeling an emptiness inside that was difficult to ignore.

The former West Ham full-back missed football so much that he was willing to ring Son Caliu, the amateur club next to his home in the island of Mallorca, to say that he was available to work with their kids if they had a position for him.

And so he did back in 2016. It was then, after a training session, that he heard the news that Lionel Messi had decided to quit international football.

He couldn't believe it and decided to tweet a picture of his ex-team-mate in that year's Copa America final with a desperate message.

"This image says it all… Don't go Lio," he wrote.

Scaloni couldn't know back then, but six years on he's working at his first World Cup as manager, having been able so far to bring out the best version of Messi for the South Americans and end a 28-year title drought with the 2021 Copa America trophy in Brazil.

It was the beginning of 'La Scaloneta', as the team has been nicknamed since then. The 44-year-old coach is now the country's most popular man.

Read more.

Lionel Messi and Carlos Tevez were both subs for Argentina in that 2006 meeting, while Sergio Aguero was a replacement in the 2010 game against Mexicio. Talk about firepower from the bench.

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Argentina are unbeaten in their last 10 meetings with Mexico in all competitions (won seven, drawn three) since a 1-0 loss in the 2004 Copa America.

Mexico have lost all three of their World Cup games against Argentina, going down 6-3 in 1930, 2-1 in 2006 and 3-1 in 2010.

Only Austria (four vs Italy) and Nigeria (five vs Argentina) have faced an opponent more often in the competition while losing every time.

That result earlier of course leaves this group finely balanced. A win for Argentina would see them go up to second, although a defeat would see them exit the competition with a match to spare.

A Mexico win would leave them with needing to avoid defeat against Saudi Arabia next Wednesday to advance to the knockout stages.

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Poland beat Saudi Arabia 2-0 earlier in the other match in this group, with Piotr Zielinski and Robert Lewandowski getting on the scoresheet.

Read the match report here and watch the highlights below.

Argentina forward Lautaro Martinez says his side's second World Cup group match against Mexico will be "like a final" after they lost their opener to Saudi Arabia.

Two-time winners Argentina sit bottom of Group C.

Anything other than a victory against Mexico could leave their hopes of qualifying for the last 16 hanging by a thread.

"It could define our faith in this World Cup," said Martinez.

Lionel Messi opened the scoring from the penalty spot but Saudi Arabia came from behind after Argentina had three goals ruled out for offside.

"It was a heavy blow to our morale, but we are a strong group that is very united," said Martinez.

"We need to stay calm, recover and think about what's coming. What's coming is Mexico, so we have to focus on getting the win no matter what.

"We are very optimistic and I think we lost because of small details, due to our own mistakes. We have studied our next rival and I think we are ready."