Playing Against Lionel Messi Is Like Facing LeBron James, Renowned Goalkeeper Says

MLS superstar and legendary goalkeeper Tim Howard recently opened up about his experience playing against Lionel Messi.

In a recent talk with the “Endless Hustle” podcast, Howard likened the experience of going head-to-head with Messi on the pitch to facing Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James inside the basketball court. According to the American soccer icon, he knows a thing or two about stopping a goal scorer, but it became a whole different story when he faced Messi.

“I would imagine it’s like watching LeBron James,” Howard said of playing against Messi. “Like when I see LeBron I’m like, ‘He’s in the post, why don’t you just put your elbow in his back?’ And then you see him and I imagine those guys feel it and are like, ‘Whoa, when did Hercules get on the court?’”

“Messi on tape looks really fast and really tricky and really slick, and then you get in the game and it’s multiplied by 10, and you’re like, ‘This is impossible,’” he continued.

Howard admitted that he once thought blocking Messi's shots would not be that difficult considering the Barcelona superstar's height but was proven wrong once they were on the pitch.

“He [Messi] shoots, he’s kind of diminutive, he’s not very big and you watch him shoot the ball and you’re like, ‘Just save that thing’,” the Everton ambassador recalled. “And then you get out there and he’s rifling it as if he’s 6-foot-4. You think, ‘Where does that come from?’”

The 41-year-old went on to reveal that his side had prepared a gameplan for Messi ahead of the match. However, all of it collapsed early in the game as the entire team got intimidated by the Barcelona star.

“A funny story is we had this great game plan,” he added. “We’re going to bottle him up. We’re going to get two players around him at all times and one’s going to step tight and all this. The whistle blew and he was like Super Mario with the star. No one could get near him and the game plan went out the window in minute two. So, yeah, he’s special.”

In 2011, Messi’s Argentina played against Howard’s U.S. national team in a friendly match billed by The Wall Street Journal as “a soccer showdown for the ages.” Despite the match ending in a draw, Howard was in disbelief over Messi’s “breathtaking” performance.

“You watch him on TV and it's like, 'It's impossible,” Howard told The Wall Street Journal in 2011. “How does he do that?' Then you see it for real and, you know, it's breathtaking. Even as a top-level professional, it's breathtaking. You can't figure out how he's doing some of these things.”