Real Madrid icon Marcelo admits he 'wanted to hit' Lionel Messi after being 'made a fool of' by Barcelona rival

Not many rivals got the better of Brazilian left-back Marcelo over the course of his career. Across 15 memorable years at Santiago Bernabeu, he took in 546 appearances for the Blancos, helping them to six La Liga titles and five Champions League crowns.

His trophy haul would have been even greater were it not for Messi and Co at Camp Nou. The Argentine icon tormented Real on a regular basis, while becoming Barca’s all-time leading goalscorer, and posed Marcelo with plenty of challenges that he would rather forget.

The ex-Madrid star told La Revuelta when asked about his meetings with Messi: “I appreciate him a lot. He’s a crack, he’s incredible. I thought you were going to show me the videos in which he made a fool of me! I didn’t even see him pass me. He was very fast. But no problem, I was born in a place where dribbling is the best, not being dribbled.”

Marcelo went on to say that “the problem” with Messi is “I wanted to hit him but I couldn’t get him”.

The Brazilian was inevitably quizzed on Messi’s battle with Cristiano Ronaldo for GOAT bragging rights, with Marcelo saying that he and his Real team-mates were “lucky to have played in the same era” as two all-time greats.

He added on the long-running scrap for supremacy between Messi and former Blancos colleague CR7: “Cristiano thinks he’s better. There was a time when it was messed up because one scored two, so the other had to score three... We saw this live and we enjoyed it very much. Many people want to compare but forgot to enjoy this.”

Marcelo is now enjoying retirement, having hung up his boots at the age of 36 when leaving Fluminense. Messi is still going strong in MLS with Inter Miami, while Ronaldo is showing no sign of slowing down at 40 as he continues to star for Saudi Pro League side Al-Nassr.