How do you stop Lionel Messi? It is a question every coach and defender
in the world has pondered over the last decade – but very few have found
the answer.
On Saturday, Juventus take on Barcelona in the Champions League final in Berlin knowing that they must silence the legendary Argentine if they wish to secure a record-breaking treble.
With the help of Diego Simeone, Javier Zanetti, Marco Van Basten, Rafael Marquez and Neil Lennon, Goal takes a look at some of the key tactical hurdles that Massimiliano Allegri and his men will need to overcome when facing Messi.
From the 1960s until the late 1990s, man-marking was the most popular tactic in dealing with a superstar. The likes of Diego Maradona and Zico spent much of their careers being kicked by specially-assigned hardmen such as Italy’s Claudio Gentile.
In the past, many coaches built their team around one star playmaker, often a No.10. Stop this player and you usually shut down the entire side. But football has changed over the past decade. New rules, tactics and technology mean that man-marking is generally now counter-productive.
Today, there are more points of attack in a formation. If you sacrifice a man simply to follow Messi around the pitch, this will create more space for other top class stars such as Luis Suarez, Neymar and Andres Iniesta. Real Madrid's Pepe followed Messi closely in a few Clasicos with mixed results, but with the exception of Greece’s Sokratis at the 2010 World Cup, there haven't been many success stories when man-marking the Argentine.
This has been recognised by Allegri himself, who has confirmed that his team will employ a zonal marking system.
Diego Simeone’s Atletico Madrid team did not concede a single goal in six games against Messi last season. The coach is adamant that Juventus must stop Barcelona as a whole in order to stop Messi.
"Man-marking in football is from a time gone by," Simeone told Goal. "Those were different times and in those teams there were no players able to make an impact quite like Messi.
"It doesn’t make sense because when you kick off in midfield, that player is far away. When there is a free-kick and a wall, again a player cannot be close. It’s the same at a corner. So there are many moments when a player has to be far away. Then what do you do? In those moments, you cannot man-mark. You also lose a player and, with him, the stability of your team.
"It’s clearly complicated and that’s why we haven’t seen man-marking on any players in recent times. You try to control Messi with spaces, looking at where he can get to and where he is dangerous.
"But he moves inside and outside, down the wing, on the left… It’s very difficult to think about controlling a player who is uncontrollable. It’s ridiculous – there’s no way."
Juventus will surely have learned from the mistakes of Pep Guardiola in the last round after the Bayern boss fielded a suicidal high line in the 5-3 aggregate defeat.
Allegri’s side has been compared to Jose Mourinho’s Inter treble-winners from 2009-10 thanks to their physical style and mean defence. The Juve coach could also learn a lot from the Nerazzurri’s victory over Pep's Barcelona in that season’s Champions League semi-finals.
Mourinho masterminded a magnificent rear-guard action to eliminate arguably the finest Barcelona side in history. Despite being in seemingly unstoppable form after his four-goal haul versus Arsenal in the quarters, Messi barely got a kick in both legs.
Inter laid the blueprint for stopping Leo – they defended collectively with a deep line and offered the attacker no space to work with. Over both legs, Inter enjoyed only 18.5 per cent of possession. Javier Zanetti, at the age of nearly 37, was Messi’s closest marker – a duty he performed admirably as part of a perfect back four.
“In both matches in 2010 we did a great defensive job, we prevented him attacking those spaces he usually likes,” Zanetti told Goal.
“I got lucky with him. He’s out of the ordinary. He can create amazing things at any moment. You always have to be concentrated and focused. And even if you are at your 100 per cent best, it is still complicated with him.”
Dutch legend Marco Van Basten was part of the AC Milan squad that shocked Johan Cruyff’s Barcelona Dream Team 4-0 in the 1994 Champions League final - and he agrees with Zanetti that Juventus must defend deep, concede possession and territory, and deny Messi space.
“Juventus have to stay so close, mark very tight, deny space – and most of all they must stay concentrated. If they do that, Juventus can win. With a good, organised defence, if they counter well Juve can beat Barcelona,” Van Basten explained to Goal.
“I was in Athens in 1994 when everybody expected Barcelona to win against Milan. They had Stoichkov and Romario, Cruyff as coach, everyone talked them up but we were very organised. We played well and we killed them, 4-0.”
But Juventus can’t simply rely on their back four to deny Messi – it must be a team effort. The defence and midfield departments will need to be close together to prevent Leo from locating space in deeper positions - this season the 27-year-old has also evolved into arguably the game’s greatest playmaker.
When Allegri’s Milan surprisingly defeated Barcelona 2-0 at San Siro in 2013, there was an average of just 30 yards separating their defence from attack. Barca were suffocated in the middle of the park and Messi just could not get the ball in dangerous areas.
Cutting off the supply line to Messi will be crucial. Inter’s Esteban Cambiasso, Thiago Motta and Christian Chivu did an admirable job in preventing the ball from getting into Leo in 2010. When Bayern thrashed Barca 7-0 on aggregate in 2013, Javi Martinez and Bastian Schweinsteiger shielded the defence superbly.
“Try and make him play with his back to goal. Because once he gets on the half-turn and finds the pockets of space, then you are in trouble,” former Celtic manager Neil Lennon told Goal.
The Glaswegians beat Barcelona 2-1 at home in the 2012-13 group stages despite mustering even less possession than Mourinho’s Inter (11 per cent). Although he scored a late consolation goal from a rebound, Messi was anonymous for much of the game.
Most professionals agree that if a defender is left in a one on one situation against Messi, then his team is in big trouble.
“You must stay with him but stay on your feet. Because he is so good with his feet, if you go to ground he'll finish you. So we were very disciplined in that aspect,” Lennon reflected on Celtic’s victory.
Bayern Munich’s Jerome Boateng had less luck in the build-up to Barcelona’s second goal in this year’s Champions League semi-final at Camp Nou as Messi twisted and turned past the German before delightfully chipping Manuel Neuer.
“It’s impossible to describe how difficult it is to mark Messi, as Boateng discovered in the semis,” former Barcelona and current Verona defender Rafa Marquez explained to Goal.
“When you are going backwards and you have Messi running at you, changing direction at any time. I can tell you I wouldn’t know how to stop him. A foul outside the area, maybe.”
Juventus must not allow Messi to isolate any of their back four. Chiellini is one of the game’s great warriors but he lacks coordination, while central partner Leonardo Bonucci is a better reader of the game than a tackler.
Allegri is likely to field a 4-3-1-2 formation on Saturday, but switching to more of a narrow 4-4-2 in defensive phases - with Arturo Vidal or Claudio Marchisio moving to the right (as they did to help double up on Cristiano Ronaldo against Real Madrid in the semis) and Pogba to the left - could help to limit Messi in this regard. It would enable the lines to stay closer together – and also cut off the width that Barca utilise so well.
Both Real Madrid and Atletico enjoyed great success with such a system in their matches against Messi and Barcelona in the second half of 2013 and throughout 2014.
Saturday’s Champions League final is set up perfectly. The best player in the world against the best defence. If Juventus can’t stop Messi, then surely no one can right now.
On Saturday, Juventus take on Barcelona in the Champions League final in Berlin knowing that they must silence the legendary Argentine if they wish to secure a record-breaking treble.
With the help of Diego Simeone, Javier Zanetti, Marco Van Basten, Rafael Marquez and Neil Lennon, Goal takes a look at some of the key tactical hurdles that Massimiliano Allegri and his men will need to overcome when facing Messi.
| SHOULD JUVENTUS MAN MARK MESSI? |
From the 1960s until the late 1990s, man-marking was the most popular tactic in dealing with a superstar. The likes of Diego Maradona and Zico spent much of their careers being kicked by specially-assigned hardmen such as Italy’s Claudio Gentile.
In the past, many coaches built their team around one star playmaker, often a No.10. Stop this player and you usually shut down the entire side. But football has changed over the past decade. New rules, tactics and technology mean that man-marking is generally now counter-productive.
Today, there are more points of attack in a formation. If you sacrifice a man simply to follow Messi around the pitch, this will create more space for other top class stars such as Luis Suarez, Neymar and Andres Iniesta. Real Madrid's Pepe followed Messi closely in a few Clasicos with mixed results, but with the exception of Greece’s Sokratis at the 2010 World Cup, there haven't been many success stories when man-marking the Argentine.
This has been recognised by Allegri himself, who has confirmed that his team will employ a zonal marking system.
Diego Simeone’s Atletico Madrid team did not concede a single goal in six games against Messi last season. The coach is adamant that Juventus must stop Barcelona as a whole in order to stop Messi.
"Man-marking in football is from a time gone by," Simeone told Goal. "Those were different times and in those teams there were no players able to make an impact quite like Messi.
"It doesn’t make sense because when you kick off in midfield, that player is far away. When there is a free-kick and a wall, again a player cannot be close. It’s the same at a corner. So there are many moments when a player has to be far away. Then what do you do? In those moments, you cannot man-mark. You also lose a player and, with him, the stability of your team.
"It’s clearly complicated and that’s why we haven’t seen man-marking on any players in recent times. You try to control Messi with spaces, looking at where he can get to and where he is dangerous.
"But he moves inside and outside, down the wing, on the left… It’s very difficult to think about controlling a player who is uncontrollable. It’s ridiculous – there’s no way."
| SHOULD JUVE PLAY A HIGH OR DEEP DEFENSIVE LINE? |
Juventus will surely have learned from the mistakes of Pep Guardiola in the last round after the Bayern boss fielded a suicidal high line in the 5-3 aggregate defeat.
Allegri’s side has been compared to Jose Mourinho’s Inter treble-winners from 2009-10 thanks to their physical style and mean defence. The Juve coach could also learn a lot from the Nerazzurri’s victory over Pep's Barcelona in that season’s Champions League semi-finals.
Mourinho masterminded a magnificent rear-guard action to eliminate arguably the finest Barcelona side in history. Despite being in seemingly unstoppable form after his four-goal haul versus Arsenal in the quarters, Messi barely got a kick in both legs.
Inter laid the blueprint for stopping Leo – they defended collectively with a deep line and offered the attacker no space to work with. Over both legs, Inter enjoyed only 18.5 per cent of possession. Javier Zanetti, at the age of nearly 37, was Messi’s closest marker – a duty he performed admirably as part of a perfect back four.
“In both matches in 2010 we did a great defensive job, we prevented him attacking those spaces he usually likes,” Zanetti told Goal.
“I got lucky with him. He’s out of the ordinary. He can create amazing things at any moment. You always have to be concentrated and focused. And even if you are at your 100 per cent best, it is still complicated with him.”
Dutch legend Marco Van Basten was part of the AC Milan squad that shocked Johan Cruyff’s Barcelona Dream Team 4-0 in the 1994 Champions League final - and he agrees with Zanetti that Juventus must defend deep, concede possession and territory, and deny Messi space.
“Juventus have to stay so close, mark very tight, deny space – and most of all they must stay concentrated. If they do that, Juventus can win. With a good, organised defence, if they counter well Juve can beat Barcelona,” Van Basten explained to Goal.
“I was in Athens in 1994 when everybody expected Barcelona to win against Milan. They had Stoichkov and Romario, Cruyff as coach, everyone talked them up but we were very organised. We played well and we killed them, 4-0.”
| CUTTING OFF THE SUPPLY LINE TO MESSI |
But Juventus can’t simply rely on their back four to deny Messi – it must be a team effort. The defence and midfield departments will need to be close together to prevent Leo from locating space in deeper positions - this season the 27-year-old has also evolved into arguably the game’s greatest playmaker.
When Allegri’s Milan surprisingly defeated Barcelona 2-0 at San Siro in 2013, there was an average of just 30 yards separating their defence from attack. Barca were suffocated in the middle of the park and Messi just could not get the ball in dangerous areas.
Cutting off the supply line to Messi will be crucial. Inter’s Esteban Cambiasso, Thiago Motta and Christian Chivu did an admirable job in preventing the ball from getting into Leo in 2010. When Bayern thrashed Barca 7-0 on aggregate in 2013, Javi Martinez and Bastian Schweinsteiger shielded the defence superbly.
“Try and make him play with his back to goal. Because once he gets on the half-turn and finds the pockets of space, then you are in trouble,” former Celtic manager Neil Lennon told Goal.
The Glaswegians beat Barcelona 2-1 at home in the 2012-13 group stages despite mustering even less possession than Mourinho’s Inter (11 per cent). Although he scored a late consolation goal from a rebound, Messi was anonymous for much of the game.
| WHAT FORMATION SHOULD JUVENTUS USE? |
Most professionals agree that if a defender is left in a one on one situation against Messi, then his team is in big trouble.
“You must stay with him but stay on your feet. Because he is so good with his feet, if you go to ground he'll finish you. So we were very disciplined in that aspect,” Lennon reflected on Celtic’s victory.
Bayern Munich’s Jerome Boateng had less luck in the build-up to Barcelona’s second goal in this year’s Champions League semi-final at Camp Nou as Messi twisted and turned past the German before delightfully chipping Manuel Neuer.
“It’s impossible to describe how difficult it is to mark Messi, as Boateng discovered in the semis,” former Barcelona and current Verona defender Rafa Marquez explained to Goal.
“When you are going backwards and you have Messi running at you, changing direction at any time. I can tell you I wouldn’t know how to stop him. A foul outside the area, maybe.”
Juventus must not allow Messi to isolate any of their back four. Chiellini is one of the game’s great warriors but he lacks coordination, while central partner Leonardo Bonucci is a better reader of the game than a tackler.
Allegri is likely to field a 4-3-1-2 formation on Saturday, but switching to more of a narrow 4-4-2 in defensive phases - with Arturo Vidal or Claudio Marchisio moving to the right (as they did to help double up on Cristiano Ronaldo against Real Madrid in the semis) and Pogba to the left - could help to limit Messi in this regard. It would enable the lines to stay closer together – and also cut off the width that Barca utilise so well.
Both Real Madrid and Atletico enjoyed great success with such a system in their matches against Messi and Barcelona in the second half of 2013 and throughout 2014.
Saturday’s Champions League final is set up perfectly. The best player in the world against the best defence. If Juventus can’t stop Messi, then surely no one can right now.
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