'The game plan was just to kick him' - Mikel Obi speaks on Chelsea's 'dirty' tactic against Messi

Former Nigerian international John Mikel Obi has shed light on how Chelsea prepared ahead of their UEFA Champions League clashes against Barcelona.

The 36-year-old disclosed that training sessions the whole week ahead of games against Barcelona was all about stopping Messi.

The ex-Blues midfielder added that the game plan was to kick Messi because it is difficult to defend one-on-one against him or get close to him.

Speaking on his podcast show, the ex-Super Eagles star noted that the only way to defend against Messi is to have a lot of players around him tackling at the same time.

“Every time it was against Barcelona... training the whole week was about Messi. We have to have two, or three players with him, you can't defend one-[versus]-one against him..."

"The game plan was just to kick him because we can't get the ball off him or get close enough. If you think he is there, he is gone. You can watch our games when we play them. [John Terry] is tackling, [Frank Lampard] tackling, I'm tackling, everybody's putting in tackles. That's the only way we could stop him."

No single lie told, Messi was a different player he was a beäst incarnate.
He single handedly changed games.
Messi was that good ???? pic.twitter.com/tKKI7yKIR6

— Micro (@MichaelEbere4) December 19, 2023