{"id":96916,"date":"2023-12-03T11:25:04","date_gmt":"2023-12-03T11:25:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stopsmokingway.com\/?p=96916"},"modified":"2023-12-03T11:25:04","modified_gmt":"2023-12-03T11:25:04","slug":"former-barcelona-player-todibo-reveals-bizarre-lionel-messi-rule","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stopsmokingway.com\/soccer\/former-barcelona-player-todibo-reveals-bizarre-lionel-messi-rule\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Barcelona player Todibo reveals bizarre Lionel Messi rule"},"content":{"rendered":"
Former Barcelona defender Jean-Clair Todibo has revealed that Barcelona enforced a bizarre rule during his time at the club to protect Lionel Messi.<\/p>\n
23-year-old Todibo only made four appearances during his time at Barcelona, joining from Toulouse in 2019.<\/p>\n
However, he trained along some of the very best players, including World Cup winner Messi.<\/p>\n
Speaking to the Ligue 1 show, Todibo revealed a ‘crazy’ rule imposed by higher ups at Barcelona to protect the Argentine.<\/p>\n
\u00a0‘At Barcelona, we weren’t allowed to touch Leo Messi in training,’ he revealed.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Jean-Clair Todibo has revealed that Barcelona enforced a bizarre rule during his time at the club to protect Lionel Messi<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Todibo only made four appearances during his time at Barcelona, joining from Toulouse in 2019<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The current Nice defender said that he wasn’t allowed to touch Messi in Barcelona training<\/p>\n
Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n
\u00a0‘It sounds crazy, but it’s true. We had to be careful. It’s normal, he’s the best, you don’t want to hurt him.’<\/p>\n
The rule may have come into play during the latter years of Messi’s career, as Thierry Henry previously revealed that Messi was often fouled in training.<\/p>\n
Speaking in Rio Ferdinand’s autobiography in 2014, Henry opened up on Mesis’s reaction to being fouled in training and not being awarded a free-kick.\u00a0<\/p>\n
‘When the ball went back to his goalkeeper, he ran back and demanded the ball,’ Henry began.\u00a0<\/p>\n
‘The goalkeeper rolled him the ball, Messi then ran through the entire team to score in anger.’\u00a0<\/p>\n
Since then, it appears that a rule had been introduced to protect Barcelona’s star as Todibo wasn’t allowed to endanger Messi.<\/p>\n
The defender would finally be allowed to tackle Messi when the pair moved to France, Todibo in 2021 (permanently), and his former team-mate a year later.<\/p>\n
Todibo has flourished with Nice, who currently sit second in Ligue 1 – behind Messi’s former side PSG.<\/p>\n
He has since been linked with a high-profile move to Manchester United.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It’s All Kicking Off\u00a0is an exciting new podcast from Mail Sport that promises a different take on Premier League football, launching with a preview show today and every week this season.<\/span><\/p>\n It is available on MailOnline, Mail+, YouTube , Apple Music and Spotify<\/span><\/p>\n Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n