Former Super Eagles captain John Obi Mikel has warned England of the daunting challenge that awaits them in Wednesday’s FIFA World Cup semi-final against Argentina, recalling how even Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea teams repeatedly failed to contain Lionel Messi in the past, Footynaija.com reports.
Mikel came up against Messi seven times during Chelsea’s UEFA Champions League battles with Barcelona, while the pair also faced off three times in international competitions, including two FIFA World Cup meetings and the 2005 FIFA U-20 World Cup final.
Despite playing under Jose Mourinho, one of football’s greatest tacticians, the former Nigeria International admitted that Chelsea never truly found a way to keep Messi quiet.
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Mikel Obi opens up on past battles against Messi
“We’ve all tried, and we’ve all failed. One thing I have to say is that he’s a genius, a fantastic player. When we used to play Chelsea against Barcelona, it was incredible,” Obi Mikel said on The Rest Is Football.
“Obviously, a week before the game, we always talked about Lionel Messi and how we could stop him. And, of course, Mourinho always had the tactics: ‘How do we stop this little magician?
“We’ve all tried to gang up against him. You have to have one or two players. You can’t defend 1v1 against him; it’s impossible.
“You can put a man on him, but you don’t want to work around with a player like that, just walk around with him one-to-one. But that Barcelona team, they are moving the ball around just to find one person, just to get the ball to him.
“Once that ball hits his feet, everything else changes. It’s just incredible. The way he dribbles the ball, the ball is like a magnet on his feet. It’s just the vision that he has. He’s one of the best passers in the world. We talk about his goals, but he’s one of the best passers. The weight of the pass is just incredible.”
Messi, despite being in the twilight of his career, has been Argentina’s most influential player and one of the most impressive players at the ongoing tournament in America. The Inter Miami attacker currently has ten goal contributions (8G, 2A) from six games.
England will be hoping to succeed where Mikel, Mourinho and all the other teams that have come up against Argentina in this World Cup fell short when they face Lionel Scaloni’s side for a place alongside Spain in Sunday’s final.
