Lionel Messi made it easy for me to mark him in famous Liverpool victory

Alvaro Arbeloa has revealed how Lionel Messi made himself ‘easier’ to mark when the two locked horns in the Champions League with Liverpool and Barcelona.

Messi has won two and lost two of his four competitive meetings with the Reds, but was knocked out of the Champions League on both occasions. A 4-0 victory at Anfield clinched the most famous of comebacks against the Catalans in the semi-finals back in 2019, while Liverpool progressed on away goals thanks to a 2-1 win at Camp Nou when the two met in the round of 16 in 2007.

Arbeloa had only joined the Reds from Deportivo La Coruna in a £2.6m deal in January 2007, and was memorably handed a baptism of fire when handed his full debut for the club up against Messi at Camp Nou. Keeping the forward quiet across both legs of the tie, what made the Spaniard’s performance even more impressive was that he played at left-back as opposed to in his favoured right-back berth.

Reflecting on facing Messi with Liverpool, Arbeloa has revealed how Rafa Benitez set his side up to get the better of Barcelona. And with the Argentine only 19 at the time, the 2014 World Cup winner, who is now a youth coach at Real Madrid, also shared how his famed opponent made it ‘easier’ to keep him quiet.

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“We played that day with me at left-back,” Arbeloa told the Coaches’ Voice. “Two strikers up front, although (Dirk) Kuyt played a bit further back. (John Arne) Riise usually played at full-back, but that day played ahead of me.

“That day, I had to mark Messi. I remember it perfectly. Rafa Benitez came to training