Lionel Messi: Why Barcelona legend would hate playing against Arsenal if he joins Manchester United or Man City
Find yourself someone like Sokratis Papastathopoulos – who will never leave your side no matter what.
Rumour has it the Arsenal defender still follows Lionel Messi to his morning coffee.
Everywhere Messi goes, Sokratis is there. There is no escape.
Sokratis got to know Messi a little too well in 2010
That was certainly the case during the 2010 World Cup, when the Greek defender faithfully stood by the Argentine superstar for the entire game.
Following news that Messi has asked to leave Barcelona this summer, everyone wants to know what’s next.
More specifically, will we get to see the man many believe is the greatest of all time in the Premier League?
There’s a chance: Manchester United and Man City have both been linked with a sensational move for the 33-year-old this summer.
But they might want to hide the fact that Sokratis plays for Arsenal. Here’s why.
“Man City have insistently tried to persuade Messi, the other is PSG” – Graham Hunter on where Messi could go after leaving Barcelona
Greece 0-2 Argentina (2010 World Cup)
Ander Herrera famously told Jose Mourinho he would go to the bathroom with Eden Hazard if it stopped the Chelsea man touching the ball against Man United in 2017.
But like with most things in the world, the Greeks did it first.
Man-marking is a tactic as ancient as the drachma. If the best players don’t get the ball, they’re ineffective, right?
Sokratis did an absolute job on Messi
Messi is a bit different. Try all you like, he will find a way. But my word, did Sokratis try.
At the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, a 22-year-old Messi was already at the peak of his powers.
He captained Argentina as they faced an uncompromising Greek side in the last matchday of Group B.
Needing a win to progress, Greece’s manager, Otto Rehhagel, delivered your classic Jose Mourinho masterplan: defend like hell and maybe we’ll nick one on the counter.
There was no escape for the Argentine
For that to work, Messi needed to stay quiet, and a 22-year-old Sokratis was tasked with ensuring just that.
If Messi went right, Sokratis went with him. If Messi dropped deep, Sokratis followed. He was just always there.
At times it seemed as though they were joined at the hip, as they moved across the field in tandem for 90 minutes.
Watch for yourself, Sokratis is No. 19…
It worked, too, for about 77 minutes until Martin Demichelis (remember him?) opened the scoring and ruined the Greek game plan.
Messi was still named Man of the Match, and it was his brilliance which led to Argentina’s second goal.
Then again, if this was a player who could simply be marked out of games, he probably wouldn’t have more than 700 career goals to his name.
Unless, of course, LaLiga managers are reading this going, ‘Why didn’t we think of that!?’
Nonetheless, the potential arrival of Messi in the Premier League could tempt Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta to keep Sokratis on board this summer.
Could we see a repeat of this epic battle next season?
The 32-year-old finds himself surplus to requirements at the Emirates, with William Saliba returning from his loan spell at St Etienne and Gabriel Magalhaes due to arrive imminently.
It’s likely Sokratis will be sold to generate funds for Arsenal’s summer business, but the club might just hang on to see if Messi moves to Manchester.
After all, Sokratis knows him better than anyone.
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