Found an old but really cool article about the opinion of different spanish league players about how to stop Messi. I think it's interesting to look at and it gives you a perspective about how he plays from the point of view of the people who face him.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2011/may/28/lionel-messi-champions-league-final?commentpage=2

Reading that, it didn't really make me think that that can truly help anyone to stop Messi. It made me think what an incredible player he is.

I figure stopping Messi is more about how well you do it, than what you do. I mean, I don't think figuring out how to stop him is the hard part. Most of the players have similar ideas. It's just executing the gameplan that is really so hard.

Anyway, I just thought it is kind of cool to see what the defender think about him and how to face him. Very entertaining read.

He knows how to use his team-mates to his advantage and also how to help them take advantage. He is not a player that dribbles a lot in the traditional sense of going round players; he goes past them instead with incredible speed and control. It's about mobility rather than fancy tricks. He is not trying to confuse you, he is just very, very hard to stop: it is one thing knowing what he does and how, in theory, to stop that; it's another actually succeeding. He is a great, great player – one of the best in history.

This guy pretty much summed Messi up in a few sentences.

Great find by the way.

Park the bus... Its how everyone stops Messi and Barca...

/thread

There is no way to stop him.

One way or another he will do something, be it score or create.

Perhaps he wont have a good game today and he doesnt do anything, but it seems to be not about what you do, rather what he doesnt do.

You can increase your chances by completely overcrowding the space in between the lines. The number 1 thing you simply cannot do is let him drag one of your centerbacks out from the backline.

Another thing is not allowing him to recieve the ball and turn under no pressure.

He is going to get many touches, you just have to accept that and have him pick up the ball in the deepest areas possible with your midfielders still in position goalside of the ball.

The closer he is coming to Xavi, ideally the better for you.

isolate xavi nd iniesta take the midfield from barca

Hire Zanetti.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2z0iAXy2IL4

Agree with dani and the quote mentioned above him.

One other thing I would like to add is his efficiency. It's astonishing how complete messi is when you take a look at not only his ridiculous through balls, near perfect control and dribbling, but his finishing is unbelievable. You can always predict there will be a goal in every game he plays..

You and your teammates need to be on the absolute top of your game, thats it, that and maybe pray he has a shit game.

I think a very good example was the WC 2010 match Germany vs Argentina (albeit it was helped by Maradona's clueless tactics).

BTW, if you check this: http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/archive/southafrica2010/matches/round=249718/match=300061505/report.html

A very interesting stat there is that Messi neither committed nor suffered any fouls *blink*

Germany hardly stopped Messi as he was playing a deeper role compared to to his usual in which he created the bulk of Argentine chances. Frankly he had an excellent performance.

Best performances vs him have been from:

1. Javier Zanetti of Inter
2. Alessandro Nesta formerly of Milan
3. Sotirios Papastathopolous of Greece.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ

U mad

Zanetti thing is BS tbh.

It was Zanetti, Cambiasso and Motta vs Messi.

No one man can stop him.

Nesta fooling messi was a myth no, he was constantly fooling him lol

As someone said,crowd the midfield right in front of the CBs like Chelsea(Mikel,Lamaprd and Meireles) and Inter(Zanetti,Cambiasso and Motta) did.It's not guaranteed it will work,it requires some luck but its a big step.