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The 'Lionel Messi Rule' That Every Barcelona Player Has To Follow

The 'Lionel Messi Rule' That Every Barcelona Player Has To Follow

You can understand why the rule is in place...

Dan Marland

Dan Marland

Barcelona players are banned from tackling Lionel Messi too hard in training, according to a teammate.

Jean-Clair Todibo, who spent last season on loan at German side Schalke, has discussed training with the six time Ballon d'Or winner.

"We all knew that he couldn't get injured," Todibo told German publication Bild per Marca: "Messi was defended very carefully in training.

"I learned a lot from Messi and I even tackled him a few times, but I was careful not to hurt him."

Image
PA

It's not surprising to hear the lengths the Catalan giants will go to protecting their star man.

In a fascinating extract from Rio Ferdinand's autobiography, former teammate Thierry Henry told a brilliant story about Messi when he got angry during a particular traning session.

Henry recalled a time when his teammate was fouled in training and didn't receive a free-kick from his coach.

"So when the ball went back to his goalkeeper, he (Messi) ran back and demanded the ball. The goalkeeper rolled him the ball, and Messi then proceeded to run through the entire team and score in anger."

Ferdinand then went into more detail about his conversation with Henry, mentioning the moment he knew Messi was "different" to anyone we've ever seen.

"Thierry said that was what he used to do in the playground at school. I did stuff like that too against little kids. But he (Messi) did it against some of the best in the world: Yaya Toure, Puyol, Iniesta, Xavi, Busquets.

"And it wasn't just that one time. He did it a couple of times.

"Thierry said: 'Can Ronaldo do that?' I said, 'Well, I've never seen him do that.' Thierry played with Zidane and Ronaldinho but they never did anything like that. He said: 'That's when I knew Messi was different to anyone we've ever seen.'"

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: Football News, Football, Barcelona, Lionel Messi