With Lionel Messi being widely regarded as one of football's greatest-ever players, a former Brazil international has revealed how he and his teammates had to adopt a unique strategy, which involved a lot of kicking, in order to stop the Argentina superstar.
Veteran midfielder Felipe Melo, who currently plays for Palmeiras, made 22 international appearances for the Selecao between 2009 and 2010, included among which was a clash against a Messi-inspired Argentina side.
In an interview with Clarin, and as cited by Marca, the 36-year-old revealed that during that match, he and his international teammates had to take turns fouling the six-time Ballon d'Or winner in order to slow him down.
"He's a unique player," Melo, formerly of Juventus and Inter Milan, said.
"When Brazil played against him, we used to say: 'we have to kick him once each, we have to rotate'. If we didn't, it was too difficult to mark him. We didn't want to break him, just to cut his rhythm and to disturb him – it was tactical."
Melo has garnered a reputation of being a combative midfielder and, with 14 red cards to his name thus far in his playing career, is among the nine players with the most dismissals in recorded football history.
