Johann Berg Gudmundsson is looking forward to the prospect of squaring off against Lionel Messi and Argentina in the FIFA World Cup.

Iceland have been handed with arguably the toughest opening fixture in the upcoming 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia as they will be squaring off against giants Argentina but despite the daunting prospect,Gudmundsson is looking forward to the challenge of going up against the likes of Messi and a host of other Argentine superstars.

Gudmundsson said: "You want to play against teams you normally don't play against. It's going to be unbelievable experience, first time at the World Cup playing one of the best teams in the world," the 27-year-old said.

"Messi is one of the best, if not the best, who ever touched the ball, so it's going to be really nice to test yourself against him.

"We know it's going to be tough, we're going to be defending 95 per cent of the time but that five per cent when we play a little bit of football we may nick a goal and surprise a few people."