Legendary midfielder Scholes admits: Messi is the hardest player to defend

Paul Scholes, the Manchester United midfielder, is known for his unparalleled game reading ability and football IQ. However, in his brilliant career, there was a person whose pride of prediction ability completely failed.

This person is Lionel Messi.

I have no idea what he is going to do

In a podcast interview, Scholes admitted that Messi was his only opponent whom he could not understand.

"When you face certain players one-on-one, you can read them, you know where they are going," Scholes explained. "But facing him, I have no idea what he is going to do. Whether he is going to go left, right, or pass between my legs. You can only guess."

I just hope he stays away from me

Scholes admits without shame that he will take the initiative to avoid Messi during the game.

"I admit without shame that I spent a lot of time against Barcelona, just hoping he could take as far away as possible," Scholes wrote in his 2015 column.

Of course, Scholes also emphasized that the strength of that Barcelona is not just because of Messi, the midfielder composed of Xavi, Iniesta and Busquets, is also devastating dominance.

From a midfielder who is famous for his wisdom to play football, such a frank and almost desperate praise may be the best annotation of Messi's extraordinary football talent.