Former Real Madrid midfielder Xabi Alonso has explained exactly why it was so difficult to stop Lionel Messi during his time at Barcelona.
It’s the age-old question – how do you stop Lionel Messi? The Argentinian has been tearing up defences for nearly two decades and although his career is coming to a close the diminutive winger’s recent Ballon d’Or victory shows he still has more than enough left in the tank.
But how did one of the game’s greatest-ever midfielders try to stop the 8-time Ballon d’Or winner?
Just when you think you have Leo Messi then in a blink of an eye hes GONE 💫pic.twitter.com/HlWjLurVpA
— Stop That Messi (@stopthatmessiii) November 24, 2023
What Did Xabi Alonso Say About Lionel Messi?
Xabi Alonso spent five years at Real Madrid before moving to Bayern Munich and faced Messi on multiple occasions whilst the 2023 Ballon d’Or winner was at the peak of his powers.
The former Liverpool midfielder and current head coach of the in-form Bayer Leverkusen has discussed how he used to try to cope with the Argentinian when his Real Madrid team faced Barcelona.
“Me, [Jose] Mourinho, and Sergio Ramos talked about him a lot. We only started to control Messi when I was marking him, but once we controlled Messi, the matches were even.
“He used to be in this, like, false nine – you know, it’s been told so much about the false nine,” the Spaniard said. But Xavi used to come here to get the ball and when I used to go to press him – this space – Messi came from the number nine position to this position behind me.
“And they used to do two against one against me and [Sergio] Ramos came to press Messi where this big space used to be created and when Messi got [the ball] he used to play for [David] Villa or for Pedro in that position,” as he pointed to both Barcelona wings.
How would you try to stop Messi?
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