Sporting Lisbon midfielder Rodrigo Battaglia has opened up on how “ashamed” he felt after being told to man mark Lionel Messi for the whole game in a Champions League game.
The Argentine came up against the Barcelona superstar in a group game in 2017 with his team eventually losing 1-0 after an own goal by former Liverpool defender Sebastian Coates.
Sporting boss at the time Jorge Jesus thought it would be best for one of his players stay close to Messi and it was Battaglia who was assigned that task.
Speaking to fans during a live feed on Instagram while in coronavirus lockdown, Battaglia said: “In the first training session of that week, Jorge told me ‘Batta, you are going to defend the short guy.’ “I was stunned.