Atletico Madrid goalkeeper Jan Oblak has more reason than most other footballers to provide an invaluable insight into what an immense pain in the butt it is to face Lionel Messi when he\u2019s on a goal-scoring stampede \u2013 and that\u2019s coming direct from one of the best on the planet.<\/p>\n
Oblak, known only to a few prior to his emergence at Atletico, quickly developed into one of the world\u2019s finest goalkeepers during his time under Diego Simeone. Ably protected by one of the sturdiest back-lines in world football, Oblak has unquestionably proven himself to be nothing less than world-class with acts of phenomenal goalkeeping.<\/p>\n
All that notwithstanding, one spectral figure – drifting scarily in and out of the goalmouth area – who has forced him on numerous occasions to pick the ball out from the back of the net, ten times so far, is Lionel Messi. Then again, Oblak would only be but just one of the vast majority of goalkeepers who have ever faced the Argentine to experience that gut-wrenching premonition of doom as the mercurial striker zips into the goal area.<\/p>\n
Speaking to Sky Sports\u00a0on the night that Messi broke Pele\u2019s record for the most goals scored for a single club, Oblak gave an unprecedented insight into how it is to play in goal with Messi on the pitch:<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is strange. Sometimes you think you are controlling them, you are controlling him. But in a second, he changes the game, he scores a goal, and Barcelona win.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n