England told exactly how to 'exploit' key Lionel Messi weakness ahead of Argentina clash

England have never come up against Lionel Messi in a senior international match, but Thomas Tuchel's side will be wary of the danger he poses.

The 39-year-old has sparked at his sixth World Cup - a joint record with Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo and Mexico's Guillermo Ochoa - scoring eight goals and providing three assists.

Messi leads the golden boot race with France superstar Kylian Mbappe, and the veteran will be fuelled to inflict further damage in Argentina's World Cup semi-final against England.

A lot of the build-up to the showdown is centred on how Tuchel successfully nullifies the centrepiece of Argentina's attack, and the German will want his team as focused as they were against Norway.

England came through that nail-biting semi-final without conceding to Erling Haaland, arguably the most feared centre-forward on the planet, after being nullified by John Stones and current Manchester City teammate Marc Guehi.

Haaland did threaten on multiple occasions, but Tuchel's back line stood firm as Jude Bellingham's brace fired them into their second World Cup semi-final in the space of three tournaments.

READ MORE: England told major World Cup problem will disappear against Argentina

Clearly, England's game plan worked to perfection - even if it was nerve-wracking at times - and similar will be expected when they face the challenge of Messi.

The eight-time Ballon d'Or winner notoriously occupies half spaces in between the right channel and central areas, utilising his low centre of gravity and creative guile to unlock defences.

Still impeccable in attack at 39, Messi will undoubtedly have some huge moments against the Three Lions, but Jamie Carragher thinks they can "exploit" Argentina defensively because he doesn't track back.

"There has to be a plan," Carragher told Sky Sports. "I don't think it will be a man-marking job, but they need a plan. The players will be expecting that. It's not admitting defeat in any way. You're coming up against arguably the greatest player of all time. He's shown that in this tournament too.

"Also, they should be thinking about how they can exploit Lionel Messi as well. He walks about when the opposition have got the ball, so that doesn't mean England's left-back should stand next to him for the whole of the game."

Carragher has encouraged England's left-back - likely to be Nico O'Reilly - to bomb forward and vacate the space Messi will leave in transition, something that has happened throughout the tournament.

Lionel Messi's walking stats explained

Unsurprisingly, Messi has walked the most of any outfield player at the World Cup, with 47% of his distance covered being accounted for by walking.

Messi has averaged the shortest distance of all Argentina outfield players to have featured for 20-plus minutes at the tournament - covering just 8.2km per 90 minutes.

He has also averaged just 2.7 sprints per match, compared to just 5.3 four years ago, but has equally seen improvements at the other end.

At this World Cup, he has had 33 shots and created 21 chances, the most combined (54) since Diego Maradona in 1986.

England will have to be at their best to stop him from influencing the game in attack, but the statistics prove a forward-thinking approach from Tuchel can take advantage of his decline in movement.