Just imagine how much Paris Saint-Germain could charge for people just to watch Lionel Messi for a single training session. If you think about all the miraculous things that Messi has pulled off in the heat of battle during incredibly tense games, then you can just imagine the extraterrestrial feats he’s executed when there’s no pressure or spectators.
Playing as a defender for Messi’s club must make for a miserable existence in training because a completely liberated version of the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner with the handbrake off must be absolutely nightmarish to face.
You only have to listen to Thierry Henry’s remarkable account of the carnage that Messi caused in Barcelona training during his prime, cutting up the entire team with mazy runs, to get the picture. “In training, he wants to beat everybody,” Henry once explained. “You know, the typical one, where he gets fouled.
But they don’t call the foul on him. “Next thing you know, he will go and ask the keeper to give him the ball, and run past everyone and score. “He will take it from you, wherever you are, and score again.