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What's the news?
Ahead of Barca's Copa del Rey semi-final second leg against Real Madrid, former Dutch midfielder, Rafael van der Vaart, praised Lionel Messi and believes the Argentine is unstoppable on his day.
In case you didn't know...
Lionel Messi is in brilliant form this season and is currently leading the race for the European Golden Shoe. The Argentine has registered 25 goals and 13 assists in the 23 league games thus far this campaign and has helped the Blaugrana maintain a healthy lead at the top of the LaLiga table.
The 31-year old has also scored six goals in the Champions League this season and is only behind Robert Lewandowski as the Champions League top goalscorer.
On the other hand, Rafael van der Vaart joined Real Madrid from Hamburg in 2008 and won one Supercopa de Espana with the club. He played 73 games during his two-year stay at the Bernabeu Stadium, scoring 12 goals.
The Dutchman left Los Blancos in 2010 and played for five different clubs before retiring from professional football in 2018.
The heart of the matter
Speaking to El Larguero (via Goal), Rafael van der Vaart praises Lionel Messi's qualities and also insists that his attributes make him unstoppable.
He said,
He's from another world,".
"I saw him the other day against Sevilla. It's impossible to stop him, I think so because he appears everywhere.
"He runs with the ball but between speed and technique, you cannot defend him."
The former Dutch international also recalled his El Clasico memories.
"When I was in Madrid, Barca were much better than us, much better than all the other teams in the world at that time,".
"I remember the match [that finished] 2-6, it looked like a PlayStation game."
What's next?
Barcelona and Real Madrid will go head to head against each other for the second leg of the Copa del Rey semifinals on February 28. The first leg of the fixture ended in a 1-1 draw at Camp Nou, which means that Real Madrid has a slight advantage over the Catalan giants.
All stats via transfermarkt
