A Liverpool star has revealed his awkward encounter with FC Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi after the Reds' dramatic semi-final second-leg comeback win in last season's UEFA Champions League.
The Catalan giants looked to set to reach the final of Europe's biggest club competition in the 2018/19 campaign, taking a 3-0 lead into the second leg of the semi-final at Anfield.
Jurgen Klopp's side had other plans, however, beating the Spanish champions 4-0 to advance to the final, which they went on to win with relative ease at the Wanda Metropolitano in Madrid, Spain.
Defender Joel Matip has now revealed that, while his teammates were celebrating turning that semi-final tie around, he was called into UEFA's doping room, where he found a sad Messi.
"That was one of the most beautiful moments of my career, maybe on the same level as my debut for Schalke in Munich.
"I didn't care about anything; I was floating on air after singing with the fans.
"And when I came into the doping test room, there was a guy sitting there pretty depressed – Lionel Messi.
"You know each other from the pitch, but it's not like you sit around with them every day in a small room like you're getting coffee.
"Everyone is celebrating, and I'm sitting in a cubicle with Messi."
