Houston boss Olsen on Messi challenge

Houston defender Erik Sviatchenko said before the match: “You can lose the game, within a second. He can take advantage of the slightest kind of mistake or the slightest unawareness in the team.

“I wouldn’t say that I had the best experience,” he added, describing playing against him in the Champions League. “The first game we played against Messi and Barcelona, with Celtic, we lost 7-0.” The second was a 2-0 defeat which saw the Dane booked for fouling Messi. So what did he learn? And how can Houston stop him now?

“We need to be very compact and we really need to be ready. If someone loses their marker or loses a duel, then the next guy will be there, to help each other. It’s a mindset more than it is a way of defending.

“If you can keep him away from goal for as long as the game goes on, because Messi sometimes in the role he has now, he also drifts away from goal to get the ball. But of course it won’t be possible for 90 minutes. He will pop up, he will pop up in spaces where he’ll get himself in dangerous spots, either to assist or to have a hit on goal. It’s very difficult to see where the weaknesses are.” Good luck, Erik! Sounds like you’ll need it.