Maxwell is one of the few defenders ever who can say that he was both teammates with Lionel Messi and had the opportunity to defend him during a match.
The former Brazilian international was a teammate of Messi for three seasons at Barcelona, before he then faced him when Paris Saint-Germain and the Catalan side met in UEFA Champions League clashes over the 2010s.
Maxwell also had to defend against Messi during training at Barcelona, which was not quite as difficult as a task that he once envisioned because of one notable reason.
“I was lucky, in training Messi was more relaxed than in the game,” Maxwell said told So Foot. “Otherwise, he is impossible to stop. … He chooses his moments, but as soon as the intensity of training increased, he started to play, he did not want to lose anymore. The level of performance was exceptional, sometimes more than in matches.
“There I got to know him as a person, to understand a little what made the magic of his career.”
Maxwell featured under Pep Guardiola at Barca for two seasons before the Spanish manager opted to leave the club following the 2011-2012 season. In those two campaigns, training sessions sure were quite intense for the veteran left-back, who had to not only defend against Messi but also against forwards such as Pedro.
Maxwell played with five different clubs over the course of his career, where he logged a total of 565 appearances in all competitions.
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