Legendary Man United defender Patrice Evra confirmed that he caught Lionel Messi dead when the Argentine striker moved to the wing.

Lionel Messi is one of the living legends of world football. He is a nightmare for many defenders, including Man United. In 4 years, from 2008 to 2011, the Red Devils met Messi’s Barcelona 4 times. And each team won 2 victories.

However, Barcelona won two Champions League finals, while Man United only won two semi-finals in the 2007/08 season. Looking back, Man United defender Patrice Evra asserted that he was quite comfortable marking Messi in the early stages.

“We met Barcelona in the semi-finals of the Champions League in 2007/08, when Messi was still a young talent. Sir Alex Ferguson gave me the task of marking him and told me if the team lost, it would be my fault,” Evra told Stick to Football.

In the early days of his career, Messi was a right winger instead of a striker. Photo: AP

“In the match at Camp Nou, we drew 0-0 when Ronaldo missed a penalty. But I think I played well. During the whole match, Messi only dribbled past me once because I was too quick. But basically I had no problem when Messi played on the wing, I could stop him,” Evra said. “However, the problem only appeared when he started moving into the spaces in the middle of the pitch. When he was on the wing, I was fine.”

Evra was right when Messi started out as a right winger. In the two semi-finals of the 2007/08 Champions League, Messi did not make much of an impact because he was closely marked. Man United then advanced thanks to a classy long-range shot from Paul Scholes. In the final, the Red Devils continued to beat Chelsea to win the championship. That was also the last time Man United won the European Championship.

However, after that season, Messi gradually evolved and became a striker. He is the one who popularized the term “false 9”. Although he started as a striker, Messi often dropped into the middle of the field and played as a midfielder. That confused defenders when marking Messi.

Messi’s talent has prevented Man United’s golden generation. Photo: AP

If they follow Messi closely, the space they leave will be exploited by Messi’s teammates. However, if they do not mark Messi closely, he will have more space to develop his abilities. Teams are helpless against this style of play of Messi, including Man United.

Man United met Barcelona again in the 2008 and 2011 Champions League finals. In both games, Messi scored and was named the best player. Evra was part of the back four that played in those two finals, but he could not stop Messi as he had before.

“In the two finals against Barcelona, ​​we lost,” said Evra. “We were too arrogant and tried to play our way. But I have no regrets because I would rather lose that way than park the bus.”