How do you stop Lionel Messi? Messi is the leading cause of headaches amongst football / soccer coaches. How in the world do you stop such a beast?! How do you stop the greatest soccer player to ever play? One man was the first to crack the code, and it happened all the way back in 2007… in this video below, discover how Rafael Benitez came up with a strategy to keep Messi on a leash when he managed Liverpool.
Sometimes teams try to surrounded Messi and mob him when he gets the ball, especially near the goal box.
This strategy seems impossible now though, Messi was less experienced back then, now I don’t think Messi can be contained or stopped. Messi’s passing ability has increased and he constantly finds that killer pass that leads to a goal. So even if you can limit his effectiveness, Messi will still pick out his teammates with that game winning pass.
Getting Lionel Messi to only use his non-favored right foot is much harder than you’d think: Can You Force Messi to Use His Right Foot?
