JAKARTA - Bayern Munich will face Barcelona in the Champions League quarter-finals, Friday, August 14 evening in Lisbon, Portugal. Bayern manager Hansi Flick reminded Barcelona not only Lionel Messi.
However, Flick did not deny that his team needed to play carefully and coherently to be able to stop Messi's magical power in that match.
"We have great respect for Barcelona, because they are one of the best teams in Europe in the last few decades and Messi is the best player in the world for the last few years, an extraordinary player," said Flick in a pre-match press conference quoted by Antara.
"But tomorrow (today, red) is not Bayern vs Messi, but Bayern vs Barcelona," he emphasized.
Messi, who in the last few seasons alone carried the burden called Barcelona on his shoulders, again performed brilliantly when delivering Las Blaugranas past Napoli in the last 16.
It is realized by Flick that his team must be able to optimize the right way to stop Messi's important role.
"Messi is a world class player and of course we are thinking hard about how to stop him," he said.
"We need to do it together. To deal with it we have to play smart. Understand the space that may open up and provide a tight guard and win every situation one on one as much as possible," said Flick complemented.
Left-back Alphonso Davies is likely to have the main task of guarding Messi's movements and the youngster will have the support of his senior, Thomas Mueller.
"Even though Messi is currently in great shape, you cannot guard him alone," said Mueller.
"From my experience, it can work if you work as a team. If your teammate can't get the ball from him, the others have to cover it up. We have to face these quality individuals together," he added.
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