FORMER Barcelona winger Ludovic Giuly has admitted that Lionel Messi used to ‘kill’ his team-mates in training – when he was only 16.
Giuly, now 40, was Barcelona’s starting right winger before Messi burst onto the scene as a teenager.
The former France international, who helped Barcelona to two La Liga titles and the 2006 Champions League under Frank Rijkaard, revealed that Messi was already running rings around players before he made his first-team debut.
Giuly told Spnaish newspaper Sport: “Messi was only 16, but he destroyed us all in a training session.
“They were kicking him all over the place to avoid being ridiculed by this kid, but he didn’t say anything. He just got up and kept on playing.
“Every play he made was dangerous. It was incredible.
“He would dribble past four players and score a goal.
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“Even the team’s starting centre-backs were nervous. They would go in hard on him, but he took it in.
“He was an alien. He killed us all.”
Giuly, who also won trophies with Monaco, Roma and Paris Saint-Germain, last played in the French fourth tier.
That was at Monts d’Or Azergues where, incredibly, he played in a stadium that’s named after him – the Stade Ludovic Giuly.
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