Juliano Belletti was once at the receiving end of Lionel Messi devastating dribbling prowess, despite both players being at the same club.
“When I first trained against Messi, I had never heard of him,” Belleti recounted his first meeting with Messi to Goal.
“Iniesta came and asked me if I knew who Messi was and Iniesta warned me to be careful because he is good.
“He said ‘be careful’ to me during the best time of my career. I was in my prime! But when he received the ball in training, he didn’t care who he was playing against. It just happened to be me that time.
“The one-v-one, when I was even thinking about trying to tackle him, I found he had already beaten me. It was simply like that… I tried to kick him but I couldn’t. I couldn’t get him.
“It was definitely not a normal situation to see a player that good come from the academy and go straight into our team.”
Belleti was among the best right-backs in the world in 2004 when he trained against a 16-year-old Messi back in 2004.
Leo Messi would later to assume legendary status in Barcelona and world football, winning the Ballon d’Or 7 times and a record 35 trophies at Barca.
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