The World Cup Sports Bar erupted into an explosive debate over Lionel Messi and England ahead of Wednesday’s semi-final.Rory Jennings and Jamie O’Hara were both left speechless as they clashed live on talkSPORT during the show.Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham are better than Messi ‘today’, says talkSPORT’s JenningsGettyIt comes ahead of the mouth-watering tie in Atlanta, with kick-off at 8pm live on talkSPORT.Prior to the semi-final showdown, Jennings had posed the question to his co-host as to whether Messi would get in the current England team.He specifically asked whether O’Hara would take the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner over either Jude Bellingham or Harry Kane.Jennings had earlier claimed he ‘cannot see a world’ in which the Three Lions fail to reach Sunday’s final.However, O’Hara quickly responded by admitting: “Well, they have got Messi.”The 39-year-old is the World Cup’s all-time leading scorer and appearance maker with 21 goals in 32 matches.Would Messi get in the England team?Putting his argument across, Jennings began by asking: “You want to talk about Messi, genuine question, does Messi get in our team?“Would you swap Bellingham for Messi? Would you swap Kane for Messi?“You wouldn’t swap Bellingham would you, you wouldn’t swap Bellingham for Messi. If I offered you the option now, Messi in, Bellingham out.“Just give you that, a trade, you give them Bellingham, we get Messi. Would you do it? No.”Jennings has claimed Messi would not get in the current England team ahead of Kane or BellinghamtalkSPORTO’Hara was initially left speechless, prompting Jennings to jokingly quip: “Would you? You unpatriotic swine.”The former Under-21 international replied: “I didn’t say yes, I didn’t say no.”Kane ‘better today’ than MessiJennings refused to let up on his fellow presenter, though.He continued: “Would you swap Kane for Messi? If that was on offer now, for this game. This game on Wednesday night in Atlanta.“I’ll give you the opportunity to sub off Harry Kane from our starting line-up and bring in Lionel Messi. Do you do that? Absolutely not.”Clarifying he was speaking purely in terms of this World Cup and the upcoming semi-final, he added: “Harry Kane is a better footballer than Lionel Messi today.O’Hara was left speechless by Jennings’ Messi claim on the World Cup Sports BartalkSPORT“I’m not saying legacy, Lionel Messi is the greatest footballer to have ever lived, no doubt. In his peak, no doubt, but Kane is better than him today, isn’t he?”O’Hara strongly disputed his remarks, though, as the pair’s discussion descended into a contentious debate.Referencing England’s quarter-final win over Norway, he responded: “I don’t think you can say that. Have you watched Messi play in this World Cup? Did you watch Harry Kane against Norway?“He didn’t have his greatest game, did he? He was dead on his feet, come on.”When asked if he would take Kane over Messi on Wednesday, though, O’Hara admitted: “I’m not answering that question.”He had the same response when Kane was replaced by Bellingham in the equation.Kane and Bellingham have scored 12 of England’s 13 goals on their run to the semi-finalsAFPAs a result, Jennings went on to conclude his argument by explaining: “If you want to talk about our wingers. Is he a better right winger than Bukayo Saka? Maybe.“Is he a better right winger than Noni Madueke? Definitely. Would you accommodate him instead of Anthony Gordon? Yes, probably.“But he’s not a better player today than Bellingham and he’s not a better player today than Harry Kane.”Leading the wayMessi, Bellingham and Kane are amongst the standout performers at this summer’s finals with a combined 20 goals between them.The former is tied with Kylian Mbappe in the scoring charts having found the net eight times for Argentina on their run to the last four.However, Mbappe currently leads Messi in the race for the Golden Boot with three assists to his rival’s two.Messi is the World Cup’s all-time leading scorer following eight goals this summerGettyThe Inter Miami forward has also missed two penalties at this tournament so far, failing to find the net from 12 yards against Austria and Egypt.As for England’s dynamic duo, Kane and Bellingham are responsible for 12 of their 13 goals so far at the tournament.England’s last nine have been scored by the duo with the last player other than Kane and Bellingham being Marcus Rashford during the opening victory over Croatia on June 17.In their five matches since, no other player has found the target for Thomas Tuchel’s side.World Cup WhatsAppDon't miss an update from talkSPORT in our dedicated World Cup WhatsApp channel.Search for ‘talkSPORT World Cup’ in your ‘Updates’ tab on WhatsApp and we’ll drop the proper, unfiltered football chat straight to your lock screen—no fluff, just pure talkSPORT energy.It’s where you’ll find out all the new rules to watch out for, England and Scotland reaction and big match player ratings. Plus there will be loads of debates on the biggest talking points as Haaland, Mbappe, Kane and the biggest names in football descend on America, Canada and Mexico.