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Compilation Of Lionel Messi Getting Assaulted By Real Madrid Players Shows What He's Made Of

Compilation Of Lionel Messi Getting Assaulted By Real Madrid Players Shows What He's Made Of

Lionel Messi was on the receiving end of some shocking tackles whenever he's come up against Real Madrid.

Josh Lawless

Josh Lawless

Anything who believes Lionel Messi would not be able to cope with the physicality of the Premier League must not be aware of the rough treatment he received from Jose Mourinho's Real Madrid.

During the must-watch El Clasico fixtures that saw Mourinho and Pep Guardiola's teams go head-to-head, Messi was on the receiving end of some truly nasty challenges challenges.

At times it was as if Real didn't want to play football and simply set out to hurt the Blaugrana's main man.

Pepe and Sergio Ramos kicked lumps out of him virtually every time they came up against him - and the likes of Ricardo Carvalho, Lassana Diarra, Xabi Alonso, Marcelo and Alvaro Arbeloa joined in on occasion too.




Messi was hit with knees, elbows and shoulders galore and anytime he breezed past a couple of players, Los Blancos would hunt like a pack of wolves and just hack him down.

Image: PA
Image: PA

The only way they could stop the six-time Ballon d'Or winner was by playing dirty and putting him on the deck. But the intimidation tactics didn't always work because it never threw Messi off his game.

In the three-year spell where Mourinho was manager, Messi dropped many masterclasses against Real - including THAT stunning brace in the Champions League semi-final first leg at the Santiago Bernabeu in 2010/2011.

The Argentine phenomenon notched 11 goals and eight assists against Mourinho's Real in that period but the Portuguese manager relished playing against him.

"I played against Messi with Chelsea, Inter, Real Madrid," Mourinho said.

"With different teams, with different approaches, with different goals.

"Sometimes to win and sometimes not to lose. Sometimes to turn the result around and other times to hold on to a result.

"It is so rich, very rich. This man really is the top of the top. It is marvellous and dramatic at the same time. A drama.

"Because when I start trying to decode his game, trying to decode his action zones, trying to find out where he can hurt us...

"It's dramatic because it's an accumulation of situations, game spaces, zones, a range of possibilities, that is, in fact, difficult.

"It is also marvellous because it forces us to think, it forces us to study, it forces us to analyse, it forces us to decide, and it makes us better coaches."

Featured Image Credit:

Topics: Football, Barcelona, Lionel Messi, Real Madrid