Muller: You can't defend against Messi with just one person
Spoke ahead of Champions League clash
Posted Friday, August 14, 2020 by Marca.com
Thomas Muller has admitted that Bayern Munich will have to be thorough in their job of stopping Lionel Messi on Friday.
The Barcelona captain was instrumental as Barcelona progressed past Napoli in the last 16 of the Champions League.
"The main thing I want to say is that Messi is in form and he's not a player that you can defend with just one player," Muller said in his pre-match press conference on Thursday.
"From my experience, you can only defend against him as a team.
"If he goes past the first [player], the second one can stop him.
"If not, the third one can and, in the meantime, the first and second players recover their position and go back after him.
"You can't defend against him with just one person.
"We have to be aggressive in duels.
"It will be exciting and interesting.
"We'll see how it works and how everything goes.
"If you watch our recent games, you can see that we've always defended well.
"It's not just Messi, it's the whole Barcelona team we have to stop."
Muller has competed for a place in the team with Barcelona loanee Philippe Coutinho this season.
"Philippe is key," the German added.
"He's very important for us.
"He's part of our team.
"Everyone knows the quality he has.
"The [starting] 11 is important, but so are the player who come off the bench, who can decide the game.
"You have the example of PSG last night."
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