“He knows how to read the game,” Verstappen said. “You see a lot of people, they need to run, they need to get in to score. He can score from wherever, whenever, and you think you can defend him, but you can’t. You cannot stop him. He will score when he seizes the opportunity. You simply can’t defend that.”
To illustrate his point, Verstappen recalled one specific moment of magic from the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. During the heated quarter-final clash between Argentina and the Netherlands, Messi produced a sensational no-look through ball to set up Nahuel Molina for the opening goal, a play that left the entire Dutch defence stranded. “The ball he played against Holland at the last World Cup, you can’t defend that,” Verstappen said of his country’s defeat to a Messi-inspired Argentina.