Lionel Messi and Filipe Luis have enjoyed some proper ding-dong battles down the years during games between Barcelona and Atletico Madrid.Luis admitted in an interview with Goal in 2017 that he’s often been forced to enter the ‘butcher’ role in order to deal with the Barça forward.“The only way to stop Messi one-on-one is to foul him. Otherwise, if I'm alone, I'll only get the ball one in 20 times. I have to use other weapons,” Luis conceded.“I know the best way to stop him. I know he does not like playing with his back to goal, you must be right on top of him when he gets the ball. If he feels comfortable, you're dead."I feel I do pretty well against him when we play, although he always scores against us. And even with me being the bad guy when we meet, he never reproaches me, always shakes my hand after the game."Luis was sent off for a vicious studs-up challenge against Messi back in January 2016, but the Brazilian full-back admires the fact that Messi has never held a grudge against him.The Atleti star is actually a huge fan of Messi as a player and even defended him after he failed to win FIFA’s ‘The Best’ award earlier this season."The award is for the best player in the world - and that today for me is Messi," the defender told reporters. "As in the past years. When he's not there, the award loses its credibility."It doesn't matter if somebody wins the World Cup or the Champions League, he is the best."
But despite Luis’s kind words, Messi still destroyed him (again) when their two teams met in a La Liga clash on Saturday night.In the 20th minute of an otherwise uneventful first half, Messi showed once again why many football fans regard him as the world’s best player with a stunning piece of control.The Argentina international jumped and headed the ball, before waiting for it to drop down.He then brilliantly beat Luis with a first-time Cruyff turn, nutmegging his opponent, before bursting down the touchline.Watch it here…It was a remarkable piece of skill and improvisation from the five-time Ballon d’Or winner.When the ball eventually went out of play, Messi was spotted having a quiet word with Luis while smiling.He clearly enjoyed it, while the look on Luis’s face suggested he knew he’d just been royally mugged off.Here’s how football fans reacted to Messi’s moment of magic on Twitter…