Messi: I can handle World Cup pressure

Lionel Messi doesn’t feel any pressure to deliver for Argentina at the World Cup,with the FIFA player of the year saying he won’t change his Barcelona playing style to suit his country.

Four years on from watching Argentina exit to Germany in the quarterfinals,Messi is now a very different player from the 18-year-old who watched on from the bench in Berlin that June afternoon.

This time around,Messi heads to the tournament in South Africa having won a string of personal honours and titles with Barcelona,largely due to his extraordinary play-making and scoring prowess.

Messi told The Associated Press in an interview that “I don’t feel the pressure” of delivering a third World Cup to Argentina.