Zlatan Ibrahimovic fires warning to Argentina over ‘animal’ Lionel Messi

Lionel Messi remains the talisman for Argentina (Picture: Getty Images)

Zlatan Ibrahimovic says Lionel Messi needs more help from his Argentina teammates as the 39-year-old is still operating at a different level to them.

Argentina survived a huge scare in the last 32 on Tuesday and produced an all-time classic comeback to beat Egypt 3-2 after falling 2-0 behind in Atlanta.

That is how the scoreline stood on 78 minutes as the defending champions looked set for an unexpected exit, but Cristian Romero nodded in Argentina’s first from a Messi cross to give them hope.

The Inter Miami forward, who had missed a penalty earlier in the match, then...