"I hope Messi's tradition of not scoring vs. Chelsea continues"

Antonio Conte hopes that Lionel Messi's curse against Chelsea continues. The Argentine forward, considered the best to ever play the game, has never scored against the Premier League champions. 

Messi has played against them on eight occasions but has never been able to find the back of the net -- and has only beaten them once, back in 2006. 

"I hope to continue this tradition [of Messi not scoring against Chelsea] but I repeat we are talking about a fantastic player," Conte said.

The Italian coach is aware that it will be difficult to keep the Barça No.10 out across the two legs.  

He added: "We must have great respect, but at the same time we must try to be excited to play this type of game and this challenge.

"We are talking about one of the best players in the world but, for sure, we have to work together, work with the team and not only with one player to try and stop him.

"Because I think that when we feel this type of challenge to man-mark [a player], Messi can become very dangerous."