Real Madrid legend Marcelo has revealed that he had a rather unusual way of dealing with "very evil" Lionel Messi.
The Brazilian defender, who now plays for Fluminense in his home nation, has never shied away from discussing his difficult duels with the eight-time Ballon d'Or winner during their time together in Spain.
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In November 2023, Marcelo stated that Messi was the most difficult opponent to handle during their tense ElClasico battles.
"Messi didn't talk during the games and I tried not to talk to him because he was quiet," the fullback told the Charla podcast at the time.
"We always said that we should leave it like that, because if you decided to obstruct him, you would provoke him and then he would get angry, and if he was angry, he became more and more difficult to handle."
Now, Marcelo has gone on to further reveal that he had to employ some unusual tactics to try to get the better of the Argentine.
"He [Messi] is very evil. I tried to hit him a lot," he said during an appearance on Cortes Podpah earlier this week.
"He is calm and then out of nowhere, he starts dodging.
"I think he thinks before everyone else."
After recalling how Messi deceived him and his fellow defenders, the veteran left-back spoke about his similarity with his arch-rival Cristiano Ronaldo.
"He and Cristiano enter the area to score goals. They score goals because they really like to score," Marcelo added.
Messi is the most frequent opponent of Marcelo's career, with the pair having met 33 times.
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During those encounters, the now-Fluminense star was on the winning side on 10 occasions, and tasted defeat in 16 matches.
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