Former Real Madrid star and Cristiano Ronaldo’s close friend Marcelo has made a shocking admission about Lionel Messi. The historic rivalry between Real Madrid and FC Barcelona, popularly known as ‘El Clasico’, is known to all. However, a year after leaving Real Madrid, Marcelo has finally admitted how it was facing the former FC Barcelona skipper.
Marcelo, who currently plays for the Brazilian club Fluminense, recently appeared in an interview on the Charla Podcast. During the interview, Marcelo revealed the one unique strategy that the Real Madrid players used to swear by when facing Lionel Messi‘s FC Barcelona. He said, “We always said that we had to leave him like that because if you decided to foul him too much, you would provoke him and then he would become angry.“
Q : How did you feel about Messi’s celebration in the El Clásico in 2017 at the Bernabeu?
🚨🗣️Marcelo (Former Real Madrid Player ) to @CharlaPodcast :
“I felt like I was in hell. Messi did not talk much during the game and I tried not to talk to him or to get him upset. We… pic.twitter.com/E0Q0ANmmPA
— PSG Chief (@psg_chief) November 15, 2023
Marcelo further talked about the iconic El Clasico match in the 2016-17 season at Santiago Bernabeu. In what was a nail-biting match, Messi scored a last-minute winner in the dying seconds of the match. However, what was even more iconic was Messi’s celebration after the goal. Messi took off his jersey and held it aloft to rub it in the faces of the frustrated Madrid supporters.
Marcelo, who’s one of Cristiano Ronaldo‘s closest friends, even admitted defeat in front of Messi that day. He said, “I felt like I was in hell. Messi did not talk much during the game and I tried not to talk to him or to get him upset.” However, despite Marcelo’s comments on Messi, he continues to maintain a good relationship with Ronaldo. The Brazilian even recently admitted that he came close to reuniting with Ronaldo at Al-Nassr.
Real Madrid’s coach admitted that his players were afraid of Lionel Messi
Meanwhile, Real Madrid‘s head coach Carlo Ancelotti has previously talked about a similar strategy while playing against Lionel Messi. Ancelotti, who has coached teams like AC Milan, Everton, Bayern Munich, Juventus, PSG, and many more in the past, admitted that his players were afraid of Messi. Back in 2021, Ancelotti revealed how he prepared his side for Messi when was in charge of Everton.
Ancelotti, who was about to face Pep Guardiola‘s formidable Manchester City, said, “When I was at Real Madrid and we played many times against Messi. I never spoke to the players about Messi [otherwise] they would get scared.” The veteran coach stated that instead of talking about Messi, he would focus on the other opposition players.
Comparing facing Guardiola’s City to facing Messi, he stated that not focussing on Messi helped alleviate the fear of his team. Ancelotti‘s words do prove to be true, as Messi has an incredible record while facing Real Madrid. The ex-PSG star has faced Real Madrid on 46 occasions, winning 20 and losing 15 matches. He also has scored 26 goals against them, including two hat tricks, and has provided 14 assists.