Solskjaer: "It isn't impossible to stop Lionel Messi"
The Manchester United coach was full of praise for the Argentine star but said he was confident they could limit his influence on the match
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer held a press conference at Old Trafford this afternoon as he looks to do what no other side has been capable of: stopping Lionel Messi. ""Messi will be difficult to stop but it's never impossible."
He also spoke on the injury concerns at his club ahead of the match against FC Barcelona tomorrow evening. Matic didn't train but hasn't been ruled out just yet. Ander Herrera won't feature, nor will defenders Bailly and Valencia.
Solskjaer was more optimistic about Marcus Rashford's chances of being fit. "He needed the extra warm-up and hopefully he won't get a reaction. He joined parts of it at the end. Let's see tomorrow. Hopefully he'll be ready."
Alexis Sanchez also has an outside chance of making the game after he returned to training today. The Chilean might not be risked so soon however and is expected to play against West Ham at the weekend instead.
How do you stop Messi?
“What kind of plan can you have to stop one of the best players in the world? We're looking forward to it and relishing the opportunity but this season we've played against Juventus and (Cristiano) Ronaldo, PSG with Mbappe, we've had Hazard."
"Suarez as well. Suarez, Coutinho and Messi will keep our defenders on their toes so let's see how we manage tomorrow."
"Messi will be difficult to stop but it's never impossible. It's not like it's Messi against Manchester United. There are so many good players, we can't just focus on one player."
What about Paul Pogba's future after he was linked with Real Madrid?
“Paul is looking forward to tomorrow. He's a Manchester United player. He's one of our, of course, big performers on the big stage.
"He knows the game against PSG was not his greatest moment so he is only focused on playing well tomorrow against Barcelona and I cannot see him not playing for Man United next season either."
His plan for the match against Barça
“I think all my experience, and over the years with Barcelona, admiring the team, you always look at what you can do against them. Of course I have discussed Barcelona with the gaffer (Sir Alex Ferguson) since the draw was made. But no details really.”
“The Champions League throws up so many strange results,” as Solskjaer knows all too well after knocking out PSG in the previous round. “It’s not going to be decided until we play 90 minutes in Camp Nou, we just have to make sure we perform to our best and have a result to take over to Barcelona.”
His memories of Gerard Piqué
“Gerard, I used to play with him, actually I played here in a reserve final at Old Trafford. I scored, and Gerard scored, we won 2-0 against Tottenham. Kieran McKenna, our coach, played in that game. I don't know if that tells you how young I am or how old Gerard is!"
"But he was a fantastic boy, he came to United as young boy, we had lots of belief in him, him and Giuseppe Rossi came together. He was maybe unlucky because he was here when arguably one of the best centre-back partnerships in the world with Rio (Ferdinand) and Nemanja Vidic played here so he didn’t get the chances that he probably deserved."
"I'm just happy to see how he's progressed in his career and how many trophies he’s won. It will be nice to meet him again. It’s a few years since I've seen him. But hopefully we can make him feel old and not me young!"
