"We knew that he is the most important player that Argentina has" - Arturo Vidal reveals Chile's plan to stop Lionel Messi in 2016 Copa America final

Chile legend Arturo Vidal has opened up about their plans in the 2016 Copa América final to stop Argentina forward Lionel Messi. He revealed that the idea was to close down the Barcelona legend every time he got the ball and not to give him any space.

Speaking on the 'A dos cámaras' YouTube channel, Vidal claimed that Messi was capable of beating multiple players to score goals. They were aware of the threat and wanted to mark him out of the game, or foul him if they could not take the ball off the Argentine. He said (via BolaVIP):

"What we were clear about was that when Leo had the ball, every player who was close had to come up to help press him. Why? Because we knew that he is the most important player that Argentina has. And he is the only one who can leave you alone, he can go against one, two or three. He can go to three and score a goal. So, what this team had was that it was very focused on what was planned, which was to mark Messi without giving him many options, try to take the ball away from him as soon as possible or foul him."

The Copa América Centenario final ended goalless after extra time, with both sides down to 10 men since the first half of normal time. The match went to a penalty shootout, where Sergio Romero saved Arturo Vidal's effort before Lionel Messi skied his penalty. Claudio Bravo saved Lucas Biglia's penalty, and Chile went on to win 4-2.

Arturo Vidal comments on Copa America final win over Lionel Messi's Argentina

Arturo Vidal continued to discuss the 2016 Copa America final, heaping praise on the Chilean players. He believes that they controlled the tempo of the match and added that the win over Lionel Messi's side was the perfect match in his career. He said:

"The good thing about this match is that at no time, with the ball, did we rush. What we did when we recovered was for the team to be wide so that they could never put pressure on us. Physically we were superior to them, because we have always shown it, we Chileans are physically very good. We prepared one hundred percent in this Copa America Centenario (...) It was a perfect match."

Lionel Messi announced his retirement from international football minutes after the 2016 Copa America final. He returned to the national team two months later, and has since won the Copa America twice, along with one FIFA World Cup.