In an interview with former English player Rio Ferdinand, Nigerian Obi Mikel, former Chelsea player between 2006 and 2017, put Messi above Cristiano Ronaldo and He recounted how impossible it was for him to score against the Argentine star.
Mikel is an authorized word to compare Messi with Cristiano since he faced both of them. To Ronaldo, for the Premier League, when he played for Manchester United. To Messi, for the semifinals of the Champions League 2008-2009 and 2011-2012. In the first, Messi’s Barcelona won the series, while in the second the victory went to Chelsea.
At one point during the interview, Ferdinand asked the now retired Mikel who he thought was the best player. “For me, Messi,” replied the former Chelsea. And he recounted what the days were like when he had to face it: “The entire week’s training was about Messi. The game plan was just to kick him. We had to have two or three players marking it“.
And I add: “You can’t defend one on one against Messi. It is impossible. you would be dead. And the way they play, the way they move the ball has the sole purpose of getting the ball to him. I know there is talk about how he walks on the court, but he is simply looking for space. And once the ball gets to him, everyone starts running, everyone moves. It is very difficult”.
After that, he maintained that there is no comparison between Messi and Ronaldo. “I know that the comparison is there because I played against both of them and Messi was very close to me when we played against them, but for me… I’m not going to say that it’s miles away because of what Cristiano also did, but I really don’t see the comparison, Messi is from another planet“he indicated.
Finally, Mikel revealed what they did at Chelsea when they had to face him. “The game plan was just to kick him because we couldn’t get the ball out of him, because you can’t get too close. You think he’s there and suddenly he ran away“, said Obi Mikel.
“You can watch our games, John Terry kicks it, Lampard kicks it, I kick it, Essien too. Everyone was hitting him, that was the only way we could stop him.. And with Christian we said: ‘Ash (Ashley Cole), take care of him.’ And that was it,” she concluded.
2023-11-18 02:22:23
#confession #rival #Messi #game #plan #kick
