Sir Alex Ferguson had a secret weapon that he would often deploy to thwart Manchester United’s biggest threats: Park Ji-sung.
The South Korean was tasked with man-marking Andrea Pirlo when United faced AC Milan in the Champions League last-16 in 2010.
He did the job so well that Pirlo later described Park as “the first nuclear powered South Korean in history” in his autobiography.
Park was also given the unenviable challenge of stopping the great Lionel Messi.
A video has emerged highlighting the numerous occasions in which Park was chosen to man-mark Messi - and it wasn’t just while playing for Man United that the midfielder was given this role.
Messi came up against Park for club and country and the South Korea international was never too far away from him.
In total, Messi and Park went head-to-head on five occasions.
The Argentinian prevailed on three occasions, including in Barcelona's 2009 and 2011 Champions League final wins over Man United, with Park winning once.
Park didn't always success against Messi, as the video shows. But he was called upon to help his teammates whenever the six-time Ballon d'Or winner was around.
"It's impossible to mark [Lionel] Messi one-on-on," Park admitted, per Manchester Evening News.
"When we played against him, [Patrice] Evra used to ask me to help mark him, so I did. I helped a lot."
That's often the way things go against the Argentinian magician.