2022 World Cup: ‘It’s Now Or Never’ For Messi, Cristiano And Modric – Arsene Wenger

‘They will come here and think ‘it’s now or never’. It’s exciting to see because Messi, Ronaldo, Neymar, and Karim Benzema are top of the world. Lewandowski too – they will all be thinking: ‘this is my chance.’

Ronaldo and Luka Modric are both 37, Messi is 35, Lewandowski is 34, while Neymar is the youngest of the ‘older’ generation at 30.

Arsene Wenger did, however, have some encouragement for the most skillful players, especially Messi and Modric, who are slight figures but can still thrive in the era of relentless pressing and increasing physicality.

‘The luck of our sport is that it is a technical sport, and despite the increasing intensity when you look at the end of a game to see who made the difference, who made you win, they are players with vision and with the technical ability to realize their vision.’

‘Badly used science can be detrimental to risk because players can be too conscious of data and not play with freedom.

‘That is why the science should be used well, to encourage players to keep making audacious decisions. If not, it could be detrimental to the quality of the game.

Meanwhile, Karim Benzema has been ruled out of France’s world cup squad through injury.