Chelsea transfer target Josko Gvardiol suffered a difficult night on Tuesday evening as Croatia's World Cup dreams were dashed by the fantastic Lionel Messi and Argentina. The RB Leipzig man struggled on the night and was the victim of a special moment from Messi late on in the game.
Gvardiol has been strongly linked with a move to Stamford Bridge after impressing in the Bundesliga, despite the summer signings of Wesley Fofana, Kalidou Koulibaly and Marc Cucurella. The Blues were said to be eager to get a deal done last summer but, like teammate Christopher Nkunku, the Croatian extended his contract with Leipzig.
Recent reports have suggested that Premier League rivals Manchester City had tabled a €110million (£95million) for the 20-year-old, with Real Madrid and Manchester United also interested.
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Gvardiol has seen his stock rise during the World Cup with a string of impressive performances. He impressed once again in the third-place play-off yesterday afternoon as Croatia defeated Morocco 2-1, scoring his first-ever World Cup with a Robin van Persie-like diving header.
But with all the talk that comes with a world-class, young starlet, there's also room for improvement and Gvardiol's attempt to keep Messi quiet in the semi-final in mid-week proved that. The 35-year-old turned Gvardiol several times before assisting Julian Alvarez to make it 3-0.
Whilst there's no harm in being outdone by one of the greatest to play the game, the lessons Gvardiol would have learnt from the 90 minutes against Messi was highlighted on BBC on Saturday. “He will benefit won’t he, Gvardiol, from what happened in the semi-final with Messi, I mean that’s all part of the learning curve? Because the world is at his feet,” host Mark Chapman asked Jurgen Klinsmann and Micah Richards.
"Absolutely," Klinsmann said. “This is one of the experiences he takes with him now. Also getting his moment with Messi, OK, I will take that lesson and move on and he showed that today, he shook it off and had a brilliant game against [Morocco]. There’s a lot more to come from Gvardiol."
Richards backed fellow defender Gvardiol for his performance, highlighting Messi's quality. “Messi could do that to absolutely anyone,” Richards added. “Look at the angles, you can be absolutely perfect but then Messi, his acceleration was so quick. You can’t blame him.”
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