Former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand has hailed the talent on Barcelona forward Lionel Messi, calling the Argentine a ‘nightmare’ to play against.
Messi is widely regarded as one of, if not the, greatest footballs in football both now and in history having broke numerous records during his career with Barcelona.
Ferdinand came up against Messi four times during his career, winning once, drawing once and losing two times with the Argentine scoring twice.
The two defeats came in the 2009 and 2011 Champions League finals, and Ferdinand has admitted he couldn’t keep ahold of Messi across those games.
Speaking prior to BT Sport’s coverage of Barcelona’s Champions League match against Tottenham, Ferdinand said: “There’s only one or two players, him and Cristiano [Ronaldo], when I go to a game my kids say to me, ‘Dad, tell me what he was like tomorrow when I wake up, please. Tell me what it was like to see him live’.”
“It’s a nightmare. I’ve played against him, I couldn’t even touch him. He’s so intelligent, he goes and plays in areas where he says to you as a defender, ‘Come on, come out to see me’.
“And if you do go out there, there’s a big hole that he’ll either exploit or a teammate will exploit and he’ll pass it to them.
“He’s so quick, he’s so direct. When you normally get quick players, they don’t know how to use it sometimes but he’s quick and he’s got huge intelligence.
“Sometimes it’s just God-given. He woke up and saw the ball at the bottom of his cot. He knew.”
Messi has started another season off on fire, scoring eight goals in his first nine matches including a hat-trick in the Champions League against PSV Eindhoven.
Lionel Messi’s ‘God-given’ talent on show yet again
With five goals in La Liga as far this season, Lionel Messi is one of the top scorers in Europe’s top five leagues with only six other having scored more.
The Argentine’s goals have come from a total of 28 shots, 14 of which were on target, and have all been from open play including one from outside the area.
Messi has also been very creative in La Liga this season, already recording four assists from 24 chances created while also completing 27 take-ons.
The post ‘Nightmare’ Messi woke up with the ball at the bottom of his cot – Ferdinand appeared first on Squawka News.
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