Berlin, June 5 (IANS) Manchester United legend Ruud van Nistelrooy on Friday offered Juventus some advice on how to stop Barcelona’s fabled attacking trio of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar during Saturday’s Champions League final here.
Luis Enrique’s men are favourites for the clash mainly for their all-star front three of Messi, Suarez and Neymar, who have broken all kinds of scoring records this season.
“I have found the secret to stop them (Barcelona) and it could be good information for their opponents,” van Nistelrooy was quoted as saying by goal.com.
“I think the only way to stop Messi, Neymar and Suarez is to block the other eight players of the team. You must stop the passes coming into them,” the Dutchman added.
“When Neymar, Suarez and Messi are functioning, Barcelona have the best attack in the world.”
Van Nistelrooy enjoyed an illustrious career, scoring almost 400 goals for club and country as he starred for the likes of Manchester United, Real Madrid and PSV Eindhoven. He is the fourth-highest goalscorer in Champions League history with 56 goals.
Van Nistelrooy, who is working as an assistant coach of the Netherlands, also revealed his favourite teammates from his career as well as his toughest opponents.
“I played against so many good defenders in my career, the best I remember playing against were Milan’s backline of Cafu, Jaap Stam, Alessandro Nesta, Paolo Maldini and Dida. They were the strongest,” he said.
“The best partnership I had in attack was with Raul at Real Madrid or with Luc Nilis at PSV. Paul Scholes made be a better player and striker at Manchester United,” the 38-year-old concluded.