Former Italy international Claudio Gentile believes that Real Madrid will have to man-mark Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi in Saturday’s Clasico at the Santiago Bernabeu if they are to keep the attacker in check.
Gentile is renowned for his aggressive man-marking of Argentina’s Diego Maradona at the 1982 World Cup, and the former Juventus star feels a similar approach is needed to cope with Barca’s double Ballon d’Or winner.
“You have to man-mark Messi if you want to keep him out of the game. However, players are no longer used to marking a specific player. All teams use zonal marking these days. You can’t learn how to man-mark in one or two days,” Gentile said to Marca.
“In my time, there were lots of duels all match long. You hardly see that anymore, though. It’s spectacular to see Messi play, but I like to think of defending as a means to stop an attack and prevent a dangerous situation. Teams nowadays already give up when they see Messi.”
Saturday’s Clasico kicks off at 22.00CET at Santiago Bernabeu.