Aberdeen defender Kari Arnason insists he will relish the challenge of trying to stop Lionel Messi this summer.
The 35-year-old is in the United States this week with the Icelandic national team as they continue their preparations for this summer’s World Cup with friendly matches against Mexico on Saturday and Peru on Wednesday.
Iceland will compete in the World Cup for the first time in Russia this summer and have been drawn in a tricky group alongside Argentina, Croatia and Nigeria.
Arnason, who has been capped 64 times by his country, said: “It will definitely be tough playing against Messi but it is not a one-man job.
“I certainly hope not.
“It is probably the hardest group in the competition but we don’t shy away from any battle.
“I am fully aware that we are capable of beating anyone and we have shown that in the past.
“We are not going to the World Cup just to be happy to be there.
“We are very happy to be going to Russia but we are going there to win games and qualify from the group.”
Lining up against the likes of Messi, Sergio Aguero and Gonzalo Higuain would be a daunting prospect for most defenders but Arnason believes the Iceland squad possesses enough experience to deal with the challenge.
He added: “I’ve played against a few good strikers.
“Cristiano Ronaldo was special and I played against Zlatan Ibrahimovic a few times when he was at the top of his game. He was pretty unplayable.
“As a centre-back I would say Ronaldo or Ibrahimovic were the toughest but Olivier Giroud was very good when we played against France in the Euros.
“We managed to keep Ronaldo at bay but Giroud was on fire that night with Antoine Griezmann alongside him.
“They were pretty tough to play against.”