"Messi is going to play even if he's at 10%; he's not going to give up"

Argentina, after their slip up against Saudi Arabia, are playing for everything in this World Cup against Mexico. The 'Albiceleste' cannot fail and all eyes are on Messi.

The '10' is being looked after by the national team and Kempes, world champion in 1978, commented on his compatriot's situation at CONMEBOL's tribute to Diego Armando Maradona.

"Messi is going to play even if he's at 10 per cent, he's not going to give up. We have to think about whether that 10% is enough for Argentina to win," said the former Argentina player, who was referring to the slip-up against Saudi Arabia.

"You have to react, you have to pick yourself up from a fall... from a slip up, which is not really a fall. You have to recover as soon as possible, beat Mexico and then see what happens," he said.

Kempes continued in the same vein: "The national team needs not to make the same mistakes they made. The coach is there to solve the problems, the players have to give everything again on the pitch".

Finally, the 78 World Cup winner mentioned Maradona, two years after his death. "There's not much to say about Diego because everything has been said. As a player, he was fantastic. If you were a team-mate, you thought he was going to do one thing and he did another. He was a genius," he concluded.