Arguably, the key to getting something against Barcelona is in stopping Lionel Messi. Manchester United play host to Barcelona in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final clash on Wednesday night. The Old Trafford club go into the match as underdogs, but Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will be confident his side can get a result if they play the way they did against Paris Saint-Germain in France.
The world’s best player is near impossible to contain when he’s having a bad day, and he goes into the United match in sensational form. The Argentine has netted 10 in his last six appearances for the Catalan club and will be looking to maintain momentum in the Champions League.
Bayern Munich legend Lothar Matthaus has been looking ahead at the crunch match and believes there is a way Manchester United can contain Messi – but Solskjaer will have to adopt a tactic from the man he replaced, Jose Mourinho.”
Mourinho was Inter boss when they beat Barcelona in the 2010 semi-finals,” explained Matthaus. “They did it by getting players around Messi all the time, not giving him anywhere to go, covering him like a blanket.”It is possible to stop Messi. Teams do it when he plays for Argentina but the Barcelona Messi is different. I reckon he’s involved in 80 per cent of their goals.
“If you try to man mark him with one player, forget it. He will just find space and run the game. So United have to be compact and whenever Messi gets the ball, then surround him.”