Iceland goalkeeper reveals how he got into Messi’s head

Sports Desk: Iceland’s Hannes Halldorsson admitted that he attempted to get into Lionel Messi’s head before successfully saving the Argentina forward’s penalty.

The goalkeeper denied Messi from the spot midway through the second half of the 1-1 World Cup draw in Moscow, diving low to his right.

Halldorsson “had a feeling” that Messi would choose to shoot that way after researching the Barcelona forward’s previous penalties.

“I did some homework because I knew this was a situation that could come up. It was a long shot but it happened,” said Halldorsson.

“I looked at a lot of penalties from Messi and I also looked at how I’ve been behaving during the last couple of penalties.

“I tried to get in their minds, so they’d be thinking about me. I had a good feeling he’d go this way."

Iceland subsequently held out to claim a draw in their first World Cup appearance and boost their hopes of qualifying from Group D.

Source: Agencies

risingbd/Dhaka/June 17, 2018/A K Azad