"Guardiola challenged me to take the ball from Messi without tackling him"
The Argentine was flying high early in his days with Barça has this iconic Blaugrana was challenged to stop him
Throughout his career, Lionel Messi has garnered some spectacular praise from teammates and rivals. However, a recent trend that we've seen lately is that of his teammates, both at FC Barcelona and the Argentine National Team, who have highlighted the things he does during practice. For many, in those days of practice, Messi is much better than in the games themselves and one of those who experienced it was Carles Puyol.
Carles Puyol with Lionel Messi during their Barcelona days
In an interview with Spanish newspaper Mundo Deportivo, Puyol revealed that one day, Pep Guardiola gave him a challenge: take the ball from Messi without tackling or kicking him. Back then, Messi was really unstoppable: he was young, he had more speed, more power and he didn't forgive anyone.
"I remember at the beginning of the era with Pep Guardiola in which we played a few short games. In one of them he proposed to mark me individually and the truth is that he plunged me into misery. But Pep put a condition on me: not to tackle him. And I replied that if he didn't want me wanted to tackle him, we should stop training", Puyol confessed.
Along the same lines, the former Barça captain added: "I tried everything and I couldn't do anything. You had to be careful not to make a hard tackle, of course, but he had too many resources. We move in slow motion and he moves very fast. When he's on the field, he's very competitive, he wants to win and he uses all the resources he has, which aren't few, and he sure did the trick for me".
The experienced Puyol was helpless against Messi at his peak
Now with Lionel Messi at Paris Saint Germain and a contract that ends in June 2023, Puyol is also excited about a return of the Argentine: "It is not too late for Messi to return. The contract ends and in a year many things can happen. It's also a World Cup year. He will always be well received at FC Barcelona".
Continue reading: Neymar vs Mbappe: relationship between stars at an ALL TIME WORST
Esta nota habla de:
