Leo Messi is arguably the greatest footballer of all-time and BT Sport pundit Rio Ferdinand gave some hilarious advice when asked how the Chelsea defenders should deal with him.The Catalan giants face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday night in the first leg of their last 16 tie in the Champions League.Messi hasn't faced Chelsea since Barcelona's shock Champions League semi-final defeat in 2012 - and has incredibly failed to score a single goal in eight meetings with the Blues.“I hope we maintain this ­tradition [of Messi's poor record v Chelsea]." said Italian coach Antonio Conte in the build-up to the game."It won’t be easy because we are talking about one of the best players in the world. And if we focus on just man-marking Messi, it can be very dangerous.”The 30-year-old Argentine is currently enjoying one of his best ever seasons and has undoubtedly been earmarked as N'Golo Kante's biggest challenge to date.Barcelona are the runaway league leaders in Spain and are considered big favourites to progress at Chelsea's expense.

How do you stop Messi?

Speaking to BT Sport just hours ahead of kick-off at Stamford Bridge, Ferdinand was asked how to stop La Liga's top scorer.

"I was in a team that tried it a couple of times and it didn't come off," said the retired Manchester United defender.

"Other than GBH [Grievous bodily harm], I don't know.

"He's one of, if not the, best player in the world... Ever!

"There's no individual that can deal with him. It's a team effort.

"You've got to have two or three players around to stop him getting the ball and then when he gets the ball you've got to have people on him."

Watch the video below.

We can't recommend grievous bodily harm but Ferdinand, who was considered one of the finest centre-backs of his generation, never managed to figure out how to stop Messi legally.

Will Chelsea's defenders fare better against him? Let us know what you think by leaving a comment below.