After being bamboozled by the Argentine, the defender conceded he found it impossible to keep him under wraps
Jerome Boateng says it is impossible to “keep tabs” on Lionel Messi after the Barcelona man embarrassed the World Cup winner on Wednesday.
Messi scored two brilliant goals, while Neymar grabbed the third, as the Catalans ran out 3-0 winners at Camp Nou.
After smashing in the first from the edge of the area, the Argentine ghosted past Boateng, leaving the defender in a heap on the floor before clipping the ball beyond Manuel Neuer.
“You can’t keep tabs on such a quality individual,” he told the DFB’s official website.
“You can only manage to reduce their threat as a team and, as shown by the closing stages, that certainly takes a lot out of you.
“You can’t keep Messi out of the game for 90 minutes. We did really well to limit his influence for the first 70, but then you have to continue to defend as a team.
“After falling behind, which shouldn’t happen in the first place, you can’t then allow the other team to further increase their advantage.”