Atletico Madrid goalkeeper Jan Oblak heaped huge praise on Barcelona talisman Lionel Messi and called him the best player in the world. Messi is often considered as one of the greatest players to ever play the game as he has also won record six Ballon d’Or trophy and seven Pichichi titles.
In the past couple of years, Oblak has been one of the arch-nemesis of Messi in front of the goal. The Slovenian glovesman explained why it so difficult to stop Messi as the Argentine always sees everything and controls everything.
“He watches my legs,” Oblak told Sky Sports. “If I make one step, he will see it and shoot to the other side. This is why he is the best. This is why he is so difficult. He does not show it but he is always looking. He is always watching you. His eyes are on the ball but he sees you.
Messi on Wednesday surpassed the massive goal-tally of Brazilian great Pele to score most goals for a single club in football history. Against Real Valladolid, Messi netted his 644th goal for Barcelona.
Oblak said that you need to be 100 per cent concentrated to stop Messi as he changes the game in a second and wins the game for Barcelona.
“He sees everything, I think. It is strange. Sometimes you think you are controlling them, you are controlling him. But in a second, he changes the game, he scores a goal, and Barcelona win.
“Sometimes you do not see him. Maybe you are thinking it is not dangerous. And then he scores. This happened to us last season. You need to be 100 per cent concentrated.
“He is still the best player in the world.”
The Atletico star further talked about easily Messi scored the goal by playing with the mind of a goalkeeper.
“He has scored many goals against me. Too many! But he is a great player, an amazing player, the best player. There are many times that he scores a goal and you have this feeling that you cannot understand how he has scored so easily. You are not even close. Sometimes it feels like he has just passed the ball into the goal, it is not even a shot,” Oblak said.
Meanwhile, Oblak got the better of Messi when they faced each other last time in La Liga this season as the Argentine failed to score a goal and Atletico Madrid won the match by 1-0 against Barcelona.
