Medel, man in the middle for Chile

Santiago: The Copa America final between Argentina and hosts Chile could turn upon a showdown between Lionel Messi’s brilliance and the combative Gary Medel, whose ‘Pitbull’ nickname perfectly sums up his style. The well-travelled defensive midfielder Medel will have the near-impossible job of controlling Messi ‘The Flea’ in Sunday’s clash between two teams, arch-rivals who are each desperate for Copa success.

Messi danced around Paraguay’s defenders as Argentina fired six goals past them in the semifinal this week. Medel provoked jitters for his side when he scored an own goal that put Peru level before Chile secured a 2-1 win to reach the final. Argentina captain Messi has now gone more than 900 minutes without scoring a goal from open play in an international game. But he has remained a world class threat who had a hand in virtually all of Argentina’s goals against Paraguay.

“Hopefully I can score in the final, but it really doesn’t matter if I score or if one of my teammates does, the most important thing is that we have accomplished our prime objective, which was to qualify for the final,” said Messi.

Medel embodies the never-say-die spirit of the Chilean team which has never won the Copa. The Inter Milan player always seems ready for a rumble and admits that as a child he was always in trouble for fighting. “I am a nice kind of crazy,” Medel said in one British interview while at Cardiff City for the 2013-14 season.