“How do you do that? We’ve all tried and we’ve all failed”

Chelsea icon John Obi Mikel has warned England that they will have to do a lot to try and stop Lionel Messi in the FIFA World Cup semifinal. The Nigerian believes that everyone has tried to stop the Argentina captain, but he manages to find a solution on the pitch.

Speaking on The Rest Is Football podcast, Mikel revealed that Jose Mourinho had a plan to manage Messi: always gang up on the Argentine. Recalling their matches against Barcelona, the former midfielder claimed they can never mark the forward one-on-one and said:

“Gary. How do you do that? We’ve all tried, and we’ve all failed. One thing I have to say, I mean, it’s just genius. I mean, fantastic player. When we used to play Chelsea against Barcelona, it’s just incredible. Obviously, a week before the game, we always talk about it. Lionel Messi, how do we stop him? And of course, Mourinho always has a tactic: How do we stop this little magician? But you know, We’ve all tried to gang up against him. You have to have one or two players. You can’t defend one-on-one because it’s impossible.”

Alan Shearer suggested earlier this month that, to mark Messi out of the game, one player should shadow him throughout the match.When asked if the idea would work, Mikel was quick to downplay it and said:

“You can, but you don’t want to walk around with a player like that. Just walk around with him. Once that ball hits his feet, everything else changes. It’s just incredible. The ball, the ball is like a magnet on his feet. It’s just the vision that he’s seeing. He’s one of the best passers in the world. We talk about his goals and everything, but he’s one of the best passers. The weight of the pass is just incredible. We tried, but one thing I’ll say: during our time at Chelsea, he didn’t score a goal against me. As soon as we left, I think he scored.”

Lionel Messi never scored a goal against Chelsea when Petr Cech was playing for the Blues. He scored when Thibaut Courtois was the goalkeeper, and also managed to score against the Czechia legend after the goalkeeper moved to Arsenal.

Lionel Messi gearing up to face England at the FIFA World Cup

Lionel Messi has never faced England in an international game since making his debut in 2005. The Argentina captain has admitted that he is looking forward to the game, adding that it would be a special clash.

The forward is leading the Golden Boot race, and can take the lead if he scores against the Three Lions. He has eight goals in his tally, and Kylian Mbappe is level.