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Its a question that almost every footballer would love to be in a position to answer when they sit down with their grandchildren one day.
Whats it like to play against Lionel Messi? Sharing the pitch with the Argentinian is one of the biggest privileges in the game, even if it can also feel like a form of punishment when hes setting off on another of those sinuous runs that turn world-class defenders into online jokes.
Advertisement As one former Germany international put it after a social media meltdown a few years back: I would love to see each one of you defending against Messi.
Some still manage to find a silver lining in the experience.
On one hand, you feel desperate and humiliated as a player.
On the other, from up close, youre witnessing a football genius, probably the greatest.
That player turned playwright credits Messi with preserving the art of dribbling and is one of a group of footballers interviewed by The Athletic over the last few months for this article.
We spoke to a Spanish goalkeeper who faced Messi on 27 occasions and can break down the technique behind his exceptional shooting in great detail (even though he was powerless to stop him from scoring 18 times).
Theres a former Real Madrid and France international who dreaded Messi walking him and the rest of the defence into no mans land, a Colombian who makes marking the best player on the planet sound like childcare at its worst, and the World Cup finalist who had no qualms about telling his country the truth when they asked him how he planned to stop an 18-year-old genius.
I dont know, William Gallas replied.
Today, Messi leads Argentina, the reigning champions, in a World Cup quarter-final against Switzerland, having scored eight goals in five matches at the tournament..
Gelsenkirchen, June 2006.
Argentina versus Serbia and Montenegro.
Diego Maradona is in a hospitality box with his arms aloft and a huge grin on his face.
All around him, the Argentina supporters are on their feet to celebrate a landmark moment.
Aged 18, Lionel Messi is about to make his World Cup debut.
As crazy as it sounds, the long-haired teenager was an enigma as far as the Serbia and Montenegro players were concerned.
We didnt prepare much specifically for Messi because we didnt yet know how good he really was, Ivan Ergic, who played for Serbia and Montenegro that day, explains.
Advertisement Messi had not long returned from a thigh injury picked up against Chelsea in the Champions League in March, prematurely ending his first full season for Barcelonas first team.
As he prepared to replace Maxi Rodriguez in Germany, he looked anxious.
Messis first contribution was a misplaced pass.
Four minutes later, he set up a goal for Hernan Crespo.
Ten minutes later, he scored.
Ergic, who played against Messi on two further occasions in the next three seasons for Basel against Barcelona, was mesmerised.
Now an author and playwright, Ergic talks about Messi with a sense of wonder and awe.
Hes one of those players who, even when you know which direction hell dribble, you have no chance.
If you commit half a second too early to one side, he shifts to the other.
And when you think youre about to win the ball, he manages to touch it just enough to keep it in front of him and under control, even in the middle of a crowd.
Especially in that, I see something close to a miracle worker.
While I was still playing, I wrote a column on the philosophy of football, and I remember writing about the frustration of coaches, especially Jose Mourinho, who couldnt find a way to stop him, sometimes resorting to dirty methods.
Messi preserved the culture of the dribbler modern coaches have almost eradicated dribblers by limiting play to two touches, both in training and matches.
Dribbling is a dying art, and I consider it almost Messis greatest achievement that he stubbornly brought that skill back into football.
39 years of memories.
39 years of Lionel Messi.
On this day in 1987, a star was born pic.twitter.com/GmG3C6NUiQ FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) June 24, 2026 The eye test, as well as the data, tells you that Messis dribbling peaked in those early years (illustrated below), when he played off the right for Barcelona as part of a three-prong attack.
Blessed with explosive speed, wonderful balance and dexterous footwork, Messi was close to unplayable.
Even before we went to the Nou Camp, France were calling me and were asking how I planned on defending against Messi, Gallas, the former France international, says, recalling that Champions League tie between Chelsea and Barcelona in 2006.
I remember telling them: I dont know.
Advertisement I spent the day before the match watching clips of Messi.
He was still a boy, 18, but even then he was a genius.
It was probably better to watch him (rather) than play against him because you dont want to become a highlight reel on YouTube.
Yet there was no shame in becoming one of Messis victims.
In fact, it was a badge of honour for some.
Andres Guardado, the former Deportivo La Coruna and Real Betis midfielder, was always proud to have 20 photos of Messi and him together on the pitch.
I do not have the ball in any of them, the Mexican said.
Ergic strikes a similar tone about his own experiences.
My feeling was ambivalent.
You could feel desperate and humiliated as a player, but from up close, youre witnessing a football genius, probably the greatest.
Simply nothing worked (to stop him) neither tactical, technical, nor physical solutions and the best defenders of that era can attest to that.
In Messis first full season at Barcelona, he beat an opponent with 76 per cent of his attempts an astonishing success rate for an 18-year-old in one of the best leagues in the world.
Typically, Messi would weave his magic wide on the right in his early days, before changing his position and starting to complete more central take-ons.
In 2007, while playing as a right-winger for Barcelona, he scored an iconic goal against Getafe.
Picking up the ball close to the right touchline, Messi skipped away from one player and nutmegged another, slalomed between two more opponents, sat the goalkeeper on his backside, and scored with his right foot.
Messi dressed as Maradona read the headline in the Spanish newspaper Diario AS the next day.
Its easy to forget Messi was only 19 when he did this...#OnThisDay in 2007 pic.twitter.com/PHWmqTZU0m LALIGA English (@LaLigaEN) April 18, 2019 Disguise was already an intrinsic part of Messis shooting, as well as his dribbling, and left goalkeepers vulnerable to being beaten inside the near post as well as the far post because he could strike the ball with such venom and with minimal backlift.
Advertisement Gorka Iraizoz, the former Athletic Club goalkeeper, is more qualified than he would like to be on this topic after 27 games against Messi, conceding goals of every description.
You had the feeling that you had covered the space, that you knew what was going to happen and suddenly he did something else, Iraizoz says.
His physique helped him hide the ball until the last moment, without much leg swing, without having to show or give any clue about where he was going to shoot.
That allowed him to wait, opening his body with a subtle touch to the far post or adding power to the near post.
That is the difference: the timing he uses, the speed at which he does it, and the technical explanation of why he was different.
By the time Gallas came up against Messi a second time, in an international friendly early in 2009, he was wiser as well as older.
The problem, however, was that Messi was even better, on his way to winning his first Ballon dOr and playing the game, or at least seeing it, in the future.
He was always walking when he didnt have the ball but when he was walking, he was taking in all the information around him, and then when he received the ball, he knew exactly what he had to do and where he had to go, Gallas says.
It was like he was in the Matrix: he saw things before everyone else.
Messis transition from an inverted right-winger to a false nine, dropping deeper, posed fresh problems for opponents.
A central attacking role gave him more freedom to roam or, as was often the case, walk and walking has never been more dangerous on a football pitch than it is with Messi.
His reconnaissance missions are legendary.
Surveying the scene as his eyes frequently flick one way and then the other (micro-scanning is the expression that Professor Geir Jordet has used to describe that method of intelligence gathering on a pitch), Messi takes pictures to inform his decision-making in the moments that follow.
How good is Messis scanning? We spent the entire game vs Poland last night, watching, analysing and counting every single scan.
This is what we found.
A Thread 1/9 pic.twitter.com/fWy48IgPen Be Your Best (@BeYourBest_pro) December 1, 2022 Hes unique.
I have never seen any player like him, Pablo Hernandez, the former Valencia, Leeds United and Spain midfielder, says.
He thinks two seconds before anyone else.
Advertisement Academics have long been fascinated by Messis behaviour, particularly his cognitive skills.
David Sumpter, a professor of applied mathematics and the co-founder of Twelve Football, worked with Barcelona during Messis time at the club, analysing patterns of play, players decisions and their relationship with time and space.
And what we found, Professor Sumpter told The Athletics Oliver Kay in The Soccer 100, is that he and his team-mates were finding pockets of space that didnt yet exist.
It wouldnt exist as a space for another two or three seconds.
In that respect, yes, these players could see two seconds into the future, five seconds into the future.
With Messi, it seemed almost like he could see 10 minutes into the future.
I dont mean that literally football is such a fluid game but early in the match, he would map out where those spaces were likely to occur, then he would make sure he found those spaces as the match went on.
But Messis walking and surveillance work had another benefit he was playing with the minds of his opponents, almost tormenting them by taking up positions that strayed into no-go zones for defenders.
You have to communicate a lot to know who should do what, Raphael Varane, the former Real Madrid, Manchester United and France defender who played against Messi 21 times, explains.
Messis speciality was walking in areas where you dont know who should defend (him).
Is it the midfielder? Is it the full-back? Is it the (central) defender? You get the impression that hes walking, or not running, (so you) defend less.
But its the opposite he puts himself in a situation where he can attack well.
Hes always in an in-between zone.
Its very difficult because normally when we attack, its a moment when the defenders are in control and the level of alertness goes down.
But against him, when youre attacking, thats when the alert level is at its highest.
Thats when, if youre a metre behind, its all over.
Gallas nods.
Even if he was walking, what you wouldnt want as a defender is for him to receive the ball, so you would think about getting close to him.
But if you get close to him, he has already won that battle because if he doesnt get the ball, youve allowed space behind you to be created and thats exactly what he wants.
Advertisement At Barcelona, that was exactly what Guardiola wanted, too.
In the lead-up to a pivotal game in May 2009, Guardiola saw an opportunity to deploy Messi as a false nine.
It was something the Barcelona manager had briefly experimented with, but this was different: Real Madrid were the opposition at the Bernabeu, and the title was on the line.
The plan was built on the idea that one of two things would happen.
Either one of the Real Madrid centre-backs would follow Messi when he dropped deep, which would leave space for Barcelonas wide attackers Samuel Etoo and Thierry Henry to run inside and penetrate.
Or the Real Madrid centre-backs would stand their ground and Messi would link up with the Barcelona midfield, creating a four-versus-three overload.
It was a tactical masterstroke; Barcelona thrashed Madrid 6-2.
Real Madrid 2-6 Barca pic.twitter.com/jNvyIVmbhi FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) March 22, 2022 When Manchester United faced Barcelona in the Champions League final a few weeks later, they planned for two scenarios: Messi playing on the right wing, and Messi playing as a false nine.
But the main defensive objective, irrespective of where he played, was to restrict his supply line.
The sight of Messi finding a pocket of space between two United players to score Barcelonas second goal in that final wasnt surprising in the slightest.
But the same couldnt be said for how the goal came about a deep cross delivered by Xavi or how it was finished.
Happy Leap Day! Celebrate with every angle of Leos leap in the 2009 final #LeapDay2020 #LeapYear #UCL pic.twitter.com/MFQZL91z3Y UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) February 29, 2020 The disappointing thing was Messi scored from a header, where we thought thats the bloody last goal hes going to score against us because of the strength and height that we had with Edwin van der Sar, Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic, Rene Meulensteen, Uniteds former assistant manager, says.
In a friendly against Angola on the eve of the 2006 World Cup, Messi was brought on as a direct replacement for Juan Roman Riquelme and operated as a playmaker.
Four years later, when Maradona was the Argentina manager at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, Messi played behind two strikers in a 4-3-1-2 formation.
At the 2014 World Cup, where Argentina lost to Germany in the final, Messi played behind Gonzalo Higuain in a 4-2-3-1 system.
Messi, in other words, was a No 10 for Argentina.
Advertisement Tactically, he felt like a free spirit in an Argentina shirt, even if the responsibility of carrying the hopes of a nation seemed to weigh heavily on him for large parts of his international career.
Elusiveness is actually quite a rare trait, that even the best defenders in the world cant touch you, and thats what I remember about him, Jay DeMerit, the former USMNT defender, told The Athletic a few years ago, reflecting on the two occasions he came up against Messi in international football, in the Copa America in 2007 and in a friendly in New Jersey four years later.
We all try to get to him, to close the space, to use the guys around us, to help each other.
But at the end of the day, he still seems to find that space, to be that one step ahead.
He leaves you confused.
He leaves you in a place where (you are thinking), Where did he go? And how did I get there? Where did he come from?, with the ability to move without the ball.
DeMerit said something else too something that almost every opponent must feel when they look across and see Messi.
Youre in the presence of greatness.
So it raises all of our games.
Youre on the field with Wayne Gretzky and LeBron James.
Ashley Cole, an outstanding left-back for Arsenal, Chelsea and England, saw Messi in the same light and describes him as definitely the best that ever played in my generation.
I live on the statistic that he never scored against a team I was playing in! Cole adds with a smile.
He was the best in the world.
He was just so unpredictable, very clever, astute and he linked that whole Barcelona team together.
You could not give him a second to breathe and when you tried to stop him at source, it was just impossible.
He could go left, he could go right.
He was strong, he was powerful, he was dynamic.
He had everything a full-back hated to go up against.
Advertisement He was impossible to mark as an individual but as a group you just had to try to manage him, to try to limit him in and around the box.
At Chelsea, we did that.
In the 2012 Champions League semi-final, he missed a penalty and that was the luck that we had with our run to winning it in Munich.
That was a rare blemish for Messi in that period.
In 2012, he won the Ballon dOr for the fourth successive year.
Even by his standards, his numbers were ridiculous.
Messi surpassed Gerd Mullers record of 85 goals in a calendar year and also broke Archie Starks 87-year-old world record for the most goals scored in a single season.
The following season, Messi scored 42 non-penalty goals in the equivalent of 29 full games.
Three of those goals were scored past Iraizoz, the former Athletic Club goalkeeper, including a solo effort in a 2-2 draw at San Mames that still takes your breath away, 13 years later.
Picking up the ball 30 yards from goal, Messi set off on a mazy run, chopping one way and then the other, leaving a trail of players behind him.
That bit is magical and a joy to watch but the way that Messi shifts the ball and shoots at the end of that dribble is brilliant, too.
GAL OF THE DAY Leo #Messi Lets do thiiiis! Athletic pic.twitter.com/WyAaKJ2tL6 FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) April 17, 2021 That play explains a bit what I was telling you: you know he is going to shoot to that side, but he is one step ahead because he knows the speed he has to use, the touch he has to give, and where I cannot reach as a goalkeeper, Iraizoz explains.
And what about his incredible dribble that preceded it? Many times it has to do with his physique.
He had a very strong lower body, Iraizoz says.
(Thierry) Henry explained this very well: how he could change direction with a simple ankle touch and all of that at high speed.
But its not only about that play in a Copa del Rey final, Mikel Rico tried to bring him down near the sideline with a kick and he didnt fall.
He was very strong.
In that final, Athletic coach Ernesto Valverde decided that left-back Mikel Balenziaga would man-to-man mark Messi a tactic that has occasionally (and only occasionally) worked for teams in the past.
Advertisement Carlos Sanchez, the Colombia midfielder, shadowed and successfully shackled Messi in a 2011 Copa America game that finished goalless.
Sanchez relished that challenge and the responsibility that came with the role, but it also sounds draining and a bit like trying to keep your eye on a toddler by a swimming pool on holiday.
He requires constant, relentless attention, Sanchez says.
In half a second, he can make something happen, and everything Ive done would mean nothing.
In the case of Athletic and Balenziaga, Valverdes plan ran into difficulties after 20 minutes.
Messi beat Balenziaga twice, as well as three other Athletic players, during a crazy dribble that belonged in a school playground, not a cup final.
Our defensive midfielders tried to stop Leo, even trying to foul him, but it was impossible to knock him to the ground, Xabier Etxeita told The Athletic a few years ago.
I came over to try and block, thinking he would go for the far post.
And I did it well; I had that shot covered.
But he had the ability, right at the last second, to decide to shoot at the near post, and hit it so hard.
It was a golazo.
It left us all with that feeling that we had done everything a football team could do to stop him, but even still, we were unable to.
Messi had produced another vintage performance three weeks earlier, this time at the Nou Camp, where the Bayern Munich defender Jerome Boateng toppled over like a tree that had been felled.
As always, one last look before the 5-year anniversary of this #Messi stunner expires ..
pic.twitter.com/DQwc1o9Cb7 FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) May 6, 2020 Mocked at the time, Boateng made the fatal mistake five years later of running a live Q&A on his Twitter account to idle away the hours during the Covid-19 restrictions.
What was going through your head when Messi did THAT to you? You know what Im talking about #AskJerome posted one wag.
The social media floodgates opened.
Honestly, I would love to see each one of you defending against Messi, Boateng replied.
Advertisement Messis longevity is a story of enduring brilliance but also subtle evolution.
As Michael Cox highlighted a few years ago in his excellent article charting Lionel Messis 10 stages of greatness (that piece might need to be updated to 11 or 12 stages now, by the way), the defence-splitting pass was a part of Messis game that developed over time, peaking spectacularly in 2015-16, when he played alongside Neymar and Luis Suarez as part of a forward line that ran riot.
Messi attempted an average of 3.4 through-balls per 90 minutes that season, more than double the highest total recorded by a Premier League player in a single campaign since 2017.
That he was increasingly operating in central areas during the final chapter of his Barcelona career the touch map below makes for fascinating viewing opened up greater possibilities to prise open defences with the sort of pass that Messi spots instinctively and the rest of us see for the first time when a replay is shown.
Ive played against lots of great players, but Messi has something unique, the former Real Sociedad midfielder David Zurutuza, who faced Messi on 14 occasions, told The Athletic in 2023.
Not to say he was better Cristiano Ronaldo was much more physical, more spectacular physically.
Messi was much more pure talent.
He could accelerate so quickly, but it was his intelligence.
He could see things before anyone else.
When you are down on the pitch with him, you realise how quickly he does things it is spectacular.
You cant get that from the TV.
It is brutal.
Understandably, theres a sense of mystique about facing Messi, and that manifests itself in all kinds of ways.
Players frequently talk about the way in which Messi forces them to increase their concentration levels and, in the words of Varane as well as DeMerit, recognise the need to raise your game as soon as you step onto the pitch.
Advertisement But Messis presence could be a distraction to opponents, too.
Without realising it, players find themselves drawn to him, almost hypnotised by the sight of him with the ball and the fear that it triggers.
When youre up against the top players, you can sometimes tend to want to be very aggressive to stop them playing, Varane explains.
But sometimes you also have to know not to be attracted by the danger zone because when Messi was driving with the ball at his feet, the danger was the players on the other side.
Everyone went towards Messi and they would pass to the other side.
There was panic.
Then they pass back to Messi when youre not expecting it.
But what if the tables were turned and Messi appeared to be fixated on you? In 2017, during a press conference before a Champions League game against Paris Saint-Germain, Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers told a story about a conversation that he had with Jozo Simunovic, his Croatian centre-back, following a defeat to Barcelona the previous season.
I remember talking to Jozo last year, and I said, Go on and tell me, what was it like to face Messi?, Rodgers said.
He told me, Every time I turned around, he was staring at me!.
Jozo just said, He was looking at me, and it unnerved me.
Rodgers smiled.
Thats the level of player.
Messi and Suarez dont go to the ball; the ball comes to them.
All they are looking for is space.
When they see a guy move, they move.
Simunovic smiles when reminded of those comments almost a decade later.
In a game, you cannot only watch the ball, you need to look around, especially when the ball is on the opposite side, he says.
As defenders, we need to be aware of the players and the space around us.
So a couple of times in a few minutes, I turned my head, and every time I saw him (Messi), walking and looking at my position when the ball was in different areas.
Advertisement It was so weird to see that he was not watching the game when they were in possession.
He was just watching us.
Now I know that was because of our positioning (as defenders) and the spaces where he can run and punish you.
At the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Messi was 35.
He was still a genius.
But a different genius.
If you look at Messi in 2009, he wasnt even at the peak of his powers and could pick the ball up on the halfway line and run past everybody.
He couldnt do that in 2022, Meulensteen, who was Australias assistant coach at that tournament, says.
He spent 80 per cent of his time just wandering in our match and comes to life in the final third where he knows he can do something that matters.
But even when he is walking, you cant ignore him.
He is still reading the game and anticipating where the ball is going to go and he has a plan of action ready for it.
Australia faced Argentina in the last-16, and its fascinating listening to Meulensteen explain how they sought to exploit the fact that Messi, who did more walking than any other player in the first round of matches in the group stage in Qatar, wasnt going to press with any conviction.
We knew because of him we could play out from the back, Meulensteen says.
We had (midfielder) Aaron Mooy always coming into the back of Messi, and Aaron is very stable on the ball.
We had a few build-up strategies to find whoever was in behind Messi.
We knew he wouldnt defend.
In most cases, Argentina didnt press, and if they did press, Messi would instigate it.
We needed to be aware of that, but the recipe then would be to play long and compete for the first and second ball.
That is where we went wrong with the ball being played to the goalkeeper; he spent a bit too long, and then we lost the second goal.
Advertisement But if you rewatch the game, we were very comfortable playing out from the back and that is purely because we knew Messi wasnt going to chase back.
It was a completely different setup than what we could have done against Barcelona (in the Champions League finals against Manchester United in 2009 and 2011).
Its hardly surprising that Messi in his mid-thirties wasnt tearing around the pitch when Argentina were out of possession in the same way that he would have done when he was younger.
With the ball, though, his ability to shape and define matches with moments of individual brilliance feels eternal, almost like he is pushing back the hands of time.
Midway through the second half of the semi-final against Croatia, Messi found himself up against Josko Gvardiol, a man 15 years younger than him, six inches taller and, on the face of it, athletically as well as physically superior.
It was, indeed, a mismatch Messi left Gvardiol for dead.
By stop-starting Gvardiol a trick that lulls defenders into a false sense of security and then faking to go one way and then the other, Messi found space where there seemed to be none and set up Julian Alvarez for Argentinas third goal.
That was just genius...! Lionel Messi leaves the commentary panel lost for words with this beautiful piece of skill to gift Argentina a third goal..
#ITVFootball | #FIFAWorldCup pic.twitter.com/2KjMWqMjyA ITV Football (@itvfootball) December 13, 2022 After an amazing setup from Lionel Messi, Julian Alvarez gave Argentina a 3-0 lead over Croatia with the GOAL OF THE DAY.
pic.twitter.com/c0R073zLGs FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) December 14, 2022 He is built to change direction, Jonas Dodoo, a former track and field sprint coach who has worked with professional clubs across the Premier League, Bundesliga, NFL and Major League Baseball, told The Athletic a few days later.
Anatomically, he is designed for it.
He has a long body and short legs, which means he is built to be agile.
Tristan Muyumba, who plays for Atlanta United and has come up against Messi half a dozen times since the Argentinian left PSG in 2023 and moved to MLS, agrees.
Its all about the way he uses his body, Muyumba says.
Hes very intelligent and knows how to position his body at every moment.
His lower body is very athletic.
You often hear that Messi is small, but hes solid and he stands firm.
Hes very sturdy and uses his body wonderfully.
Muyumba, who grew up supporting Manchester United and says that he used to prefer Ronaldo until he came to (his) senses, mentions something else about Messi that is more about the person on the pitch rather than the footballer.
Advertisement Hes not very talkative and I dont speak Spanish, but hell flash you a little smile or slap your hand, says Muyumba, who has a framed Messi shirt at home.
Ive always enjoyed playing against him because he doesnt seem to have a lofty opinion of himself.
Hes pretty approachable and there seems to be a kindness to him.
Its a kindness that will kill you as soon as Lionel Messi has a football at his feet.
(Additional contributors: Felipe Cardenas, Tom Williams).