Sir Alex Ferguson’s advice for marking Lionel Messi when Barcelona faced Man Utd

What do you get whenever you plot the best play of all-time towards the best supervisor of all-time?

That’s what arguably occurred when Lionel Messi’s Barcelona stood in the way in which of Sir Alex Ferguson’s quest to take Manchester United into the 2008 Champions League closing.

Messi had already scored six targets within the competitors main into the semi-final conflict with the Crimson Devils.

Wes Brown was tasked with marking the Argentinian maestro within the Manchester United defence – and finally it labored with a 0-0 draw on the Nou Camp adopted by a 1-0 win at Outdated Trafford.

And Brown has now recalled the precise directions he was given by Ferguson to be able to cope with the diminutive Argentinian.

“I used to be really marking him, so wherever he went, I needed to go together with him,” Brown advised Stadium Astro.

“It was high quality, however I simply keep in mind the supervisor saying, ‘simply don’t dive in Wes, you’ll be high quality, simply don’t dive in’.

“Then in case you ever watch that sport, the primary 10 minutes I dive in and he takes it previous me.

“Then after that I don’t dive in and he kind of all the time lays it off to someone else. That all the time makes me chuckle.

“I feel at that stage the staff was so good, everybody was so assured, not simply the defence, the midfield, the strike drive we had with Tevez, Rooney and Ronaldo – everybody was on a excessive.

“We have been assured going into the sport, particularly drawing the primary one on the Nou Camp, coming again to Outdated Trafford we all the time thought, ‘we all know we are able to do it’.

“Messi, he’s unbelievable as a result of he’s bought full velocity with the ball – not many individuals can do this.

“When you do dive in he simply strikes it and strikes it once more, however we managed to maintain it at bay.”

It was Cristiano Ronaldo who beat Messi to the Golden Boot within the Champions League that season as United lifted the crown towards Chelsea in Moscow.

Their rivalry has blossomed with Ferguson including his slant on the controversy a number of years in the past.

“When the ball is at Lionel Messi’s toes it’s like he’s sporting slippers,” he advised The Impartial in 2017.

”However there’s a distinction between Messi and Ronaldo and I will inform you what it’s. I feel Messi is a Barcelona participant however Ronaldo could possibly be taking part in for Stockport County and he would rating a hat-trick. He’s good within the air and he has two toes.”

While Messi would possibly play like he’s sporting slippers, Brown was in a position to preserve him quiet underneath Ferguson’s directions in one other instance of the managerial skill.

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