Arsene Wenger told Arsenal star to 'push' Lionel Messi down the stairs of Nou Camp tunnel

Arsene Wenger once told one of his Arsenal players to 'push' Lionel Messi down the stairs in the Camp Nou tunnel - and the player himself still isn't sure if he was joking.

Wenger had a poor record against Barcelona throughout his managerial career, only defeating Les Cules once in nine attempts while with the Gunners.

Their only win, in the first leg of their round of 16 clash in 2010/11, was subsequently followed by a defeat in the second leg that knocked Arsenal out of the competition.

And they infamously suffered a 2-1 defeat in the 2006 Champions League final, having played much of the match with 10 men after goalkeeper Jens Lehmann was shown a straight red card in the first half.

Messi in particular had a superb record against Arsenal, scoring nine goals in just six matches against them while with Barcelona.

Four of those goals came in one match as Barca thrashed the Gunners 4-1 in the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final in 2010.

Wenger clearly has a lot of respect for Messi, describing him as the best player in the world ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo after that goalscoring display.

But the Frenchman probably grew tired of watching the Argentinian dominate matches against his team - leading to him making an unusual request to Theo Walcott.

The former Arsenal winger, speaking on the 'It's Called Soccer' podcast, revealed that he didn't know whether his manager was joking or not when he asked him to push Messi down the stairs during a match at Camp Nou.

"I remember playing against him on numerous occasions, right," he began.

"It got to the end of the game, and Arsene Wenger caught me after the game. He saw that I was talking to Lionel Messi.

"He said, at the top of the stairs at the Nou Camp - I don't know if anyone's been to the Nou Camp, where the players walk down the stairs or they've seen it on the TV. But he said to me, 'Theo, why did you not push him down the stairs?'"

When questioned by co-presenter Rebecca Lowe as to whether his admission was true, Walcott replied: "Yes, he did. He 100 per cent said it.

"I don't know [if it was serious]! That's the thing."