SAUDI ARABIA boss Herve Renard reckons he knows how to stop Lionel Messi.
Renard’s men are the only team beat the South American champions at the World Cup after their stunning 2-1 victory last month.
Messi scored the opener in that game, but two quickfire goals from the Saudis saw them produce one of the biggest tournament shocks ever.
Perhaps more impressively, they managed to keep the PSG star quiet with his early penalty his only real contribution of note.
But since that defeat, Messi has been playing football from another planet and heads into Sunday’s final against France in scintillating form.
In total, the 35-year-old has scored five goals and laid on three assists in his five outings in Qatar.
And he’s already scored in EVERY knockout game.
But Saudi boss Renard thinks he knows the secret to stopping Messi.
He told L’Equipe: “To stop Messi, you have to put pressure on his most important link, De Paul.
“You must keep Messi 35-40 meters away from the goal and prevent him from holding the ball comfortably.
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“France did it with Matuidi in 2018.
“Now he can do it with Rabiot and Tchouameni too.”
