Messi: Manolas accepts "there's no way to stop" Barcelona ace
Pep Guardiola recently stated there is no way of stopping Barça star Lionel Messi, and Roma centre-back Kostas Manolas agrees.
Roma defender Kostas Manolas accepts "there's no way to stop" Lionel Messi as he prepares to go up against the Barcelona star in the Champions League on Wednesday.
Barça are in the midst of a fine campaign and look set to cruise to the title domestically, as they sit nine points clear of Atlético Madrid with eight games to go.
Messi has been a major part of that, scoring 26 goals and setting up another 12 in what has been a tremendous year.
He showed his importance to Barça yet again in Saturday's 2-2 draw with Sevilla, as he came on as a substitute and netted a late equaliser to preserve their unbeaten record in LaLiga this term.
Guardiola right about Messi, says Manolas
And Manolas, who will face Messi at the Camp Nou on Wednesday for the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final tie, agrees with Pep Guardiola's recent comments about the Argentina superstar.
"Guardiola is right when he says there's no way to stop him [Messi]," the Greek centre-back told Il Giornale.
"Even if you could fix that somehow and maybe block him off, there are 10 others that can hurt you. Of course, Barcelona are still something else without Messi. We'll have to do our best."
"They're favourites...but you never know"
The last time Roma met Barça in the Champions League, back in November 2015, the Serie A side were hammered 6-1 and Manolas, who played the entire game, knows they got it all wrong that day.
"Tactically speaking, we got that game wrong," Manolas said. "We pushed too high up and they found space easily.
"Now we won't have to go there with the fear of conceding so many goals. We respect Barcelona, but we're aware of our strengths.
"We showed in the group stage that we're a good team. Wow we have a double-header against a very strong opponent. They're favourites, but when you play 11 against 11, you never know."