Former Atlético Madrid player Filipe Luís on why Diego Simeone nicknamed Lionel Messi “the dwarf” | OneFootball

Former Atlético Madrid defender Filipe Luís has provided an insight into the depths to which Diego Simeone would delve, to aid his players’ attempts to contain Lionel Messi.

Simeone, of course, was forced to plan for Messi throughout his fellow countryman’s time in Spain, in La Liga and the Copa del Rey alike.

As has proven the case for many a world-class tactician, though, the Argentine struggled to curb the production of Barcelona’s then-talisman.

In fact, across his career, Messi put a hefty 32 goals past Simeone’s Atléti.

This came, as alluded to above, despite Simeone having attempted to make use of some characteristically unorthodox tactics to mentally prepare his players.

Speaking in an interview with Marca, Filipe Luís, who proved a crucial cog in Atlético’s backline during his time in Madrid, was drawn on the challenges posed by facing football’s greatest-ever player.

The Brazilian went on to reveal that boss Simeone put in place a special dressing room nickname for Messi, so “when we were in front of him, we would not be afraid”:

“At Atléti, Simeone put four players on Messi! So when he scored, it was not one player’s fault, it was just Messi.”

“Before the games against Barcelona, Simeone never used Messi’s name. He always called him ‘the dwarf’, so when we were in front of him, we would not be afraid of him.”

Conor Laird | GSFN