To keep Lionel Messi quiet at the World Cup is possible, as Inter showed yesterday

Bravo Jose Mourinho! You have done what many gaffers have failed to do. You have made Lionel Messi look anonymous in a very important game.

Who would ever have thought that with his form in the last month, Barcelona’s most potent forward man would seem like he was not on the field in the first leg of the Champions League semi-final against Inter at the San Siro yesterday?

Except for some bright sparks in the game where Messi hit a couple of shots on goal, for the most part one could not tell if he was on the pitch or not. He looked like a ghost of the man who took Arsenal to the cleaners at the Camp Nou two weeks ago.

Mourinho’s Inter have now shown that a disciplined, hardworking side can beat Barcelona. Perhaps the biggest challenge they have thrown in the way of teams that are already sweating at the thought facing Messi at the World Cup, and here I cue Nigeria being the first opponent, is to cut off the supply of balls to the little man.

In the game last night, Xavi was not given enough space to play in the incisive passes that allow Messi to shine. Add to that close marking by a strong backline that kept his every move in check, and Messi actually began to look his size for once.

Nigeria will need to take a cue from this. In a Complete Football magazine interview, former Nigeria Olympic silver medal-winning coach Samson Siasia said that Messi will need to be closely marked.

However, this talk, coming from a coach who lost two finals, the World Youth Championship (Holland 2005) and the 2008 Beijing Olympics, to Messi’s antics could have been taken with a wave of the hand.

From what Mourinho’s men showed last night, perhaps Messi can be outplayed in his game even. June 12 is the D-day when all our troubles should be put to rest.

Nigeria coach Lars Lagerback has said he is troubled more by the defence of the Super Eagles than by any other department in the team. His men will have to show that they’re worth wearing the green and white jersey by stepping up their game against Diego Maradona’s talisman at Ellis Park in Johannesburg. Perhaps Lagerback will have to learn some motivational skills from Mourinho as well.

Inter have shown it can be done, Nigeria should be able to do it too.

why are people talking when the tie is not over, this is just first leg arsenal also kept him quiet in emirates but what happened in camp nou

the guy is something else in nau camp

them eagles may have the dedication of the Inter players but skills

i watched both finals against argentina and although the history books will say argentina won both games and therefore are superior to nigeria, the reality on the pitch on those days was not so clear cut. in the youth cup finals messi did relatively well but not so special. at the olympics he was completely silenced and at the time some guys on an english football forum commented on how good our defenders were. the back four that day was taiwo, adeleye, apam and someone else maybe adefemi? i particularly remember apam making some great tackles. if the team is organised properly they will be able to handle messi, and higuain.

messi is not so hard to stop if you mark him properly. lucio and zanetti really did that perfectly. in the first leg against arsenal, clichy and song also did it very well.