Algeria coach Petkovic says his side helped Messi create World Cup history

[p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/messi-lionel/vgOOdZbd/"]Messi[/a] picked the North Africans apart in a [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/soccer/algeria-nc87N1BR/argentina-f9OppQjp/?mid=UP9bEsOr"]winning start[/a] to [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/argentina/f9OppQjp/"]‌Argentina[/a]'s title defence, and while [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/petkovic-vladimir/8jGeMiqt/"]Petkovic[/a] applauded the 38-year-old's performance ‌he said his players had given him too much room to manoeuvre.[/p][p][b]"Class ‌is permanent, because we're not talking about any old player here, ‌we're talking about a footballer who has won the Ballon d'Or seven or eight times in his career," [/b]said Petkovic.[/p][p]"Unfortunately, we also afforded him an opportunity ‌with the first and second goal, and we ⁠made it easier for him to ‌score the goals.[/p][p][b]"But Messi, with his clear thinking at crucial stages of the ​game, can do things that much more easily.[/b][/p][p]"He has the privilege that the entire Argentina team works for him and ​supports him, and for several years, nay for decades, he’s been doing incredible things. Argentina had 10 shots today, and seven of ⁠those shots came from Messi.”[/p][image alt="World Cup top scorers" id="5cada001-9afd-487b-a417-323d138ebed7" credit-line="StatsPerform via Opta" guid="30f992c5-1e68-44e5-99dd-d0007fe0520c" original-width="1080" original-height="1080" /][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/algeria/nc87N1BR/"]Algeria[/a] ​goalkeeper [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/zidane-luca/jPxdddKn/"]Luca Zidane[/a] could have done better with Messi's first goal, and he then spilled a shot that allowed the Argentine to tap home his second on the hour mark.[/p][p]Messi completed his hat-trick in the ‌76th minute with a blistering strike after being teed up by substitute [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/gonzalez-nicolas/ID3evg0L/"]Nico Gonzalez[/a].[/p][p][b]“It's not my style to blame one player or another but I do think we did make a few too many mistakes in terms of allowing the Argentina players to have free shots on goal,"[/b] said Petkovic.[/p][p]“We can blame ourselves, but we need to work on this and we need to learn lessons from this.”[/p][p]Petkovic said it was important Algeria pick themselves up for their remaining Group ‌J games against [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/jordan/vNcmJoU2/"]Jordan[/a] on June 22 and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/austria/naHiWdnt/"]Austria[/a] five days ​later.[/p][p][b]“We mustn't be too down in the dumps about the three ‌goals we've conceded, but we need to be a little bit more balanced,"[/b] he added.[/p][p]"We need to move the ball a little more quickly. And we'll be up against a different calibre of opposition, so we'll have different expectations, but we need ⁠to make sure the team ⁠has that belief, because we ‌know that we can do it.”[/p]