Kieran Trippier tells a story of how Diego Simeone, his former boss at Atletico Madrid, instructed his troops on how best to prepare for the prospect of facing Lionel Messi.
How do you stop the greatest player of all time? What tactics, plans or shapes? Trippier said Simeone gave his answer before the team meetings even began: ‘Pray.’
Carlo Ancelotti had a different approach. ‘If you want to prepare well for a game against Messi, you have to avoid speaking about Messi,’ he said. ‘If you speak to your players about the skills of Messi, they will be afraid.’
Messi is 39 now,
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