Aguero: 'On the pitch Messi is free, he can move around everywhere'

Sergio Aguero and Lionel Messi are the faces of a generation that is yet to win an international prize despite boasting some of the planet's top footballers. The two players share each other's pain, understanding the criticism that inevitably comes with their inability to end Argentina's trophy drought, which stands at 23 years.

There have been suggestions that Messi is too much of a team player, a seemingly absurd proposition. However, while his place in the Pantheon of football will be argued until Argentina wins something, there is, as Aguero explains, no debate over how La Albiceleste thrives when the diminutive figure has the ball at his feet.

"On the pitch Messi is free, he can move around everywhere, as for us it is good for him not to be fixed in one position," Aguero told Sport, as translated by ESPN FC. "The more contact he has with the ball, the better, as Leo can decide a game in any moments."

Messi, limited to second-half appearances at the Copa America Centenario because of an injury to his lumbar region and rib cage, is the tournament's joint-top scorer with three goals to his name, all of which came in Argentina's 5-0 assault of Panama, when he scored a hat-trick in 19 minutes.

Argentina will meet Venezuela on Saturday in the Copa America Centenario's quarter-finals.