BE OVERJOYED NOT OVERAWED
Poch tells Spurs players: Don’t be scared of facing Messi... you have the chance to do something you can all tell your grandkids about
MAURICIO POCHETTINO wants his Tottenham stars to stop worrying about facing Lionel Messi and bank tales to tell their grandchildren.
The Spurs boss says he has no special plans for combating the Barcelona superstar, but just wants his men to savour the moment – just as he did lining up alongside Diego Maradona for Argentine club Newell’s Old Boys.
Spurs host Barca tomorrow, with the Spanish champions winless in their last three matches after victories in their opening six games.
All eyes will be on Messi to lift them out of the mini-slump. The five-time world player of the year was rested against Athletic Bilbao on Saturday before coming on in the second half to provide the assist for Munir El Haddadi’s late equaliser.
Messi will now be primed and ready to continue Barca’s Champions League charge. But Pochettino (right) said: “I am not going to try to find a solution. I am going to say to the players, ‘Enjoy playing against Messi.’
“Because you are going to have the opportunity to play against one of the best players in history.
“More than it worrying you, it needs to excite you, so you can say, ‘Oh, I played against Messi or I played against Maradona or I played against Ronaldo.
“This is the type of player that you are going to remember. For your ego, it’s a thing that you are going to tell your kids and grandkids. Sometimes, my kids say to me, ‘Ah, you played with Maradona’ and they are so proud.
“So enjoy. Enjoy to play against Messi. It’s difficult to find solutions to try to stop him, I promise you. I think it’s impossible. “When he has the ball we have to try to play in the opposite half, to try to push Leo to play far from your goal. If not, it’s terrible if he is close and takes the ball.” Despite now being 31, Messi remains one of the world’s greatest players. But Pochettino reflected on playing for Espanyol when, as a 17-year-old, Messi became the youngest player to represent Barca in an official competition.
He added: “I don’t remember him. He was just another youngster from the Barca academy.”