Having played against and alongside Messi over the years, Chelsea goalkeeper Willy Caballero gave a candid assessment on his compatriot.
Lionel Messi is always out ‘to assassinate the goalkeeper’, with Caballero admitting to a tough time anytime he’s played against his countryman.
Indeed, the six-time Ballon d’Or winner has brought down the most respectable of goalkeepers to their feet during his career-long stint with the Catalans.
For well over a decade, Messi and eternal rival Cristiano Ronaldo have dominated all the charts and made records their own.
For Caballero, he has seen enough of the Barcelona star to know how devastating he can be in front of goal.
The veteran goalkeeper has come up against Messi on numerous occasions during his time in La Liga and in Europe at large. On the international scene, both players share the dressing room for Argentina and have grown to be close friends over the years as well.
However, Messi has no friends on the pitch and is only out to get the job done, details Caballero.
Speaking on facing La Pulga, the Chelsea star said to 90Min: “Facing Messi, I had to suffer.
“He goes out to assassinate the goalkeepers.
“The goalkeepers, the defenders – he’s going to kill [them]. And killing means scoring as many goals as possible.
“He doesn’t care if you know him, if you’re Argentine or if you’re a friend. He’ll talk to you afterwards, greet you and everything else, but in those 90 minutes he’s on a mission to hit you with goals.”
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