Lionel Messi’s toughest opponent is a Manchester City academy graduate you may not have heard much about

Lionel Messi has incredibly scored 768 goals and assisted a further 365 in 943 appearances throughout his career at club level.

With a stunning record like this – which does not include his remarkable tally of 112 goals in 193 outings for Argentina – many would presume the Argentine dominated every defender he ever faced.

However, Lionel Messi does have somebody he considers to be his toughest opponent – a player Manchester City actually sold for just £8.8m back in May 2018.

What Lionel…