Lionel Messi Branded 'Evil' by Cristiano Ronaldo's Ex Teammate In Candid Confession

• Inter Miami captain, Lionel Messi, has been labelled 'evil' by Marcelo Vieira
• The ex-Madrid star added that it was tougher to handle Messi if he got angry
• Marcelo crossed paths with the Argentine on 33 occasions, winning 10 games

Former Real Madrid defender, Marcelo Vieira, has bestowed a unique epithet on Lionel Messi, referring to him as "evil."

Having encountered the mercurial Argentine playmaker on numerous occasions, Marcelo has firsthand experience of Messi's sublime footballing abilities, which he characterises as out-of-this-world.

The 35-year-old once admitted that confronting the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner posed his most formidable challenge on the pitch, as reported by GOAL.

The Brazilian, who currently plays for boyhood club Fluminese, elaborated that Messi became even more difficult to handle if he became agitated during a match, noting that he attempted to thwart him relentlessly.

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Why Marcelo believes Messi is 'evil'

“Messi didn’t talk during the games, and I tried not to talk to him because he was quiet," he told Cortes Podpah as quoted by Daily Post.

Marcelo suggested that the mercurial Argentine enhances his performance when provoked, prompting him and his teammates to proceed with caution to avoid eliciting such a reaction.

“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 would become more and more difficult to handle.

Messi's extraordinary abilities make him a nightmare for opponents. His lightning-fast thinking allows him to evade tackles from defenders, which Marcelo believes gives the former Barcelona star an almost 'evil' edge.

“He [Messi] is very evil. I tried to hit him a lot. I think he thinks before everyone else.”

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What is Marcelo's head-to-head record against Messi?

As per Sportskeeda, Marcelo encountered Lionel Messi a total of 33 times across various competitions for both club and country.

In these encounters, Marcelo lost 16 matches against the Argentine maestro while emerging victorious in 10 games.

How to thwart Messi, according to Valverde

In a previous publication, Sports Brief covered Uruguay and Real Madrid midfielder Federico Valverde's candid insight into how to thwart Lionel Messi.

Despite Valverde's ascent to a regular role in the Real Madrid squad coinciding with Messi's latter years at Barcelona, they engaged in numerous on-field duels, including encounters during El Clasico, even after Messi's move to PSG.