Mourinho reveals how he placed Lionel Messi in jail amid UCL defeat

Jose Mourinho has taken a swipe at Barcelona's poster boy after their embarrassing defeat in the Champions League against Liverpool.



According to the former Manchester United Manager he once placed Lionel Messi in jail during his time as manager at Inter Milan.

Jose Mourinho narrated how he was able to stop Messi when his side, Inter Milan played against Barcelona in UCL in 2009.

Recall that in 2009-2010 UEFA Champions League Semi-final, Inter Milan defeated Barcelona 3-1 at San Siro and held them down to a 1-0 win at Camp Nou.

Mourinho explaining how Liverpool could silent in-form Messi yesterday, revealed the tactics he used at Inter Milan against the Argentine footballer.

“The situation for us was very clear, which was [Messi] cannot play alone when he comes in between the lines,” Mourinho explained in a video posted to The Coaches’ Voice YouTube page.

“So this player here [Cambiasso] must be a player totally in control of this area, always in communication with the left-back.

“There is a moment where he becomes yours and I stay in the zone but if in a certain moment you are attracted by other positions and Messi goes in these positions in between the lines, you have to decide to go.

“But then if you decide to go, you have to defend [Dani] Alves. So there is a combination of ideas but basically everything was around not letting Messi play.”

After the game, the Italian press lauded Inter’s tactical set-up, saying Mourinho’s side had put Messi in “jail.”

“I remember after the game … in Italy they were using the word ‘gabbia’, the real translation is like a jail to Messi because in the end we didn’t play man-to-man but Zanetti, Motta, Cambiasso, everybody was responsible for any position that Messi could go.”